One Form Too Many
by The Grey Coincidence
Summary: Add one Drug lord. Add one Japanese spy with a bit of shapeshifter to him. Add one Chinese child who is also a shapeshifter. A pinch of Kung Fu Masters. A dollop of debt. A splash of vodka. There you have it, a perfect recipe for Di-Saster. How apetizing.
1. Vodka, Raids and Missions

It was a light winter, Danzaburo Danaki decided as he made the short trip to his master, the Daimyo he traversed the path a light snow dropped down from the heavens, not enough to do much, other than maybe cake a few branches in white.

The tanuki clan had once been a lively bunch, getting drunk, beating bellies, and snow, when snow had come they had made little tanuki's of the stuff for their children to play with or had fought with the cold,soft snowballs their own paws had formed. Then it had all changed, so suddenly, so quickly.

Danzaburo pushed those thoughts away from his head, it was treason now, he had his master, he had his dignity and he had his honor, in truth he had all he needed. Hurrying up a bit he soon entered the palace.

The tanuki was relatively small, with simple black pants and a black sleeveless jacket, on the back of which was written the kanji for 'mimicry', one of his favorite words. In addition to this he wore a Japanese Sun Hat, though he never payed it much mind. His fur was predominantly brown, but his arms and legs were pure black, as were the stripes on his big bushy tail. He had a black facial mask around his eyes, and a single leaf, perpetually sticking out from the side of his mouth.

He bowed down low when he entered his master's chambers, which were really far more of a throne room, bare and empty as it was.

Except for the giant fish tank of course.

The Daimyo floated within his abode. He was large and bright red. Sword scars decorated him throughout his body, his long sword-like whiskers chaining down besides him. He shook the tank when he spoke, loud and commanding, his voice echoing throughout the empty room, Danzaburo knew.

"You called Masuta-dono"?

"Yes, Danza-kun. Come closer. Kenji-kun! Bring the documents"!

Danzaburo waited as the servant scurried off to obey the Daimyo's orders. As they waited, the catfish suddenly leapt into poetry, a habit he was quite fond of doing.

 _"Stark, fragile beauty,_  
 _Branches heavy with snow, ice,_  
 _Precious, fleeting"._

The servant called Kenji bowed himself in and placed the sheets of paper into Danzaburo's paws. "Read it", the Daimyo commanded. Danza did as he was bid, scanning the letters and finishing them quickly, they all spoke of something quite interesting. "The Chinese have a shapeshifter"? He couldn't hide his curiosity, well he did, but not right away.

"There is a shapeshifter in China, yes, but whom it belongs to I don't know. Shapeshifters are ever so valuable", once again the Daimyo burst into poetry.

 _"Forms, morphing every,_  
 _Moment, Skins changing every,_  
 _Few seconds_

Danza-kun bring him back here, or eliminate him should he prove troublesome. Understood"?

"Yes Masuta-dono".

"Dismissed".

Danzaburo bowed himself out. Despite himself he felt a sort of hope, an inkling, something small. _Maybe I'm not the last tanuki._

* * *

Saras stared at the casks before him, shivering as a gust of wind blew in from outside. Despite the heavy winter Saras wore his usual attire, his yellow woolly jumper remarkably sleeveless, his cloak a thin little thing of green silk, his pants a just as thin cloth of blue, his rice hat piled with the pretty white flakes of snow, his Talon Claws freezing to the touch and a scarf that stuck rigid to his neck. He was desperate to leave, but he was waiting, and waiting required patience. _Patience is a bitch._ He thought, as another stronger gust pierced through his fur and sent goosebumps all over his skin.

He continued staring at the stacks of barrels before him, trying to calculate in his mind how much their was. Each barrel contained one duo of vodka. Ahead of him lay side by side three barrels of vodka. That made three times a duo, so three duo. He shivered and the maths left him all at once. _Counting vodka makes you go to sleep, I should remember that the next time I have nightmares._

"Done boss"! Shan Qu's head popped out from behind the vodka barrel with an energetic squeak, one that made Saras jump. "Three hundred duo of vodka, all stable and _not_ frozen".

 _Unlike me._ Shan Qu was the type of person whom Saras could trust. He was dumb, physically weak and unrelenting in his loyalty. The two of them were the same age, that had been Aang's doing of course, but for all his lack of wit Shan Qu lived up to his name. A mountain will always be there no matter what, Shan Qu had the same principle. But for all his criticism Saras had grown fond of the bat wrapped up in a scarf that would have looked big on a bear, and wearing a thick woolly cloak of black.

"Okay, so we can go now"? Saras asked through chattering teeth, already he was eager for the warmth of Mr. Mann's little spare room.

"Sure boss, just have to make sure whoever buys this junk doesn't freeze on it". The bat flapped off in the direction of the cave mouth, Saras shifted into his warmest form, a dragon and flapped after him, wondering which idiot would buy three hundred duo of vodka. _A drunk one._

* * *

Night for some was the day of others, and that rule was not exclusive to nocturnals.

The Night Life on the streets of Gongmen was generally quite, except well in some parts.

The gorilla was big, no huge, no massive. Well anyways he was big, even for his species, he towered over all, squashed all and sent the est into shadows beneath him. He rubbed a hand against his suit, silken, yellow and decorated exquisitely in skulls, painted of course, and fake wooden ones dangling from his belt, but they retained the shape all the same. His pants were similarly exotic, black with striped shades of red and blueish hue, his fur as gray as an old mammal's beard. He was Tin Zu, the Drug Lord of Gongmen. _Damn, that sounds nice._

Tin Zu relaxed on his throne, it was really more of an old chair. He gazed down lovingly at his son, who played at the foot of the chair with a few brand new toys. Yang Chao was on his way to collect his debt and once everything was done and dusted he would be rid of the hare. Life was a dream, he stretched himself further, stifling a yawn.

Somewhere outside the old mill that formed the headquarters and hideout of Tin Zu, one of Gongmen's greatest drug lords, crouched three figures, a croc, an ox and a rhino, conveniently known as Masters Croc, Ox and Rhino.

"Okay so according to what we got Tin Zu's snug little ass is in there right"? Ox spoke, in a whisper that someone seriously should have heard.

"Yeah, that's right", Rhino explained, cracking his knuckles.

"Can we just bust in there now before I freeze to death"? Croc asked, shivering besides the pair of them.

"It's not that cold", Ox argued.

"I'm cold-blooded"!

"Guys quiet"! Thundering Rhino had spotted a patrol coming straight for them.

"Serves you right for not wearing a shirt". Ox continued, oblivious to the danger.

"Oh, because you have one tucked away in you belly, don't you"? Croc countered.

"Guys quiet"! Rhino commanded again.

"What is it"? Croc snapped popping his head out from over the little rock they had been crouching behind.

"There they are"! A voice cried out.

"Run"! Shouted another.

"Time to go to work", Ox mused as he leapt over the boulder and landed a vicious slap to the side of one wolf's muzzle, sending the lupine yowling into the snow. Croc had leapt out to his left and slammed a tail into an owl's wing, throwing the avian upon the ground in half a second. As a few more of Tin Zu's men came charging at them with hopes of gold and glory, Thundering Rhino leapt from his cover and charged right into the center of them, sending them scattered across the snow, while Croc and Ox made short work of them.

"Warmed up yet Croc"? Rhino had to ask as he slapped two wolves head's together.

A flaming arrow flew past their heads, before a few more rained down from the sky.

"You had to ask"! The reptile flung himself forwards.

Ox punched another wolf in the teeth, the canines slipped from his mouth as he fell down face first into the snow. He would have rested there quietly had a flaming arrow not taken him in the rump. The lupine flew ten feet into the air yelping like a puppy, clutching his but with both paws. "Try not to sit on it", Ox called out after him as he zig zagged down the hill. After that the arrows stopped coming.

It made no matter anyways, because by then Rhino was at the door.

"Let us in in the name of the law"! The rhino bellowed.

"No by the hair on my chinny chin chin"! The guardsman mocked from the other side of the door.

"Have it your way then", shrugging the rhino turned and landed a roundhouse kick to the wooden structure, flattening the guardsman on the other side as the trio of Kung Fu Masters walked in. "Remember guys, everyone we catch goes either into the City Jail or we take them to the Tower of Scared Flame if we have to. Oh and everything they stole we're giving it right back"!

* * *

Fenghuang was an owl, an eagle owl, as big as a crane, but wider. She wore a purple silk vest and pants of a deep blue, she wore no jewelry though, but she did and didn't. She wore two leaf shaped silver earings around her crown. A necklace of knives, exotically decorated with gold and silver. But it was the blades noone saw that punctured hardest. Now she sat with a group of others, petrified as Tin Zu stood there bellowing at them.

"Fools ! All of you are fools ! Who was responsible for guard duty today ? Who was responsible for the gold ? Who was responsible for _my son_ "!

Noone dared point out that as his father noone should be held to blame more than him.

"Now those guys have him, those stupid Kung Fu Masters"!

"They are the least of your worries Tin Zu". Suddenly the room was a lot more quite. Yang Chao walked in. He was a snow hare, all cute and white and fuzzy, with a pair of pants and a black vest, aside from his usual bright red neckerchief, yet somehow he instilled fear into the heart of everyone inside that room. "You owe me Tinny, how much was it again ? I lost count".

There was something off-putting about how he talked, something cold and icy about him, then the hare looked concerned.

"Noone got hurt right ? Noone died, how many arrested, no bad injuries"?

Noone replied verbally but Fenghuang mentally did the maths. Forty arrested, of those ten injured, and Fuzzy Fujin was still missing after the arrow took him in the rump.

"Good, no answer means nothing bad right"? His face broke into a grin. "Now where's the money Tinny, 'coz I can't see any here"?

"Ill get it back", the gorrila was several times the hare's size, but still cowered like a child before him. "I just need another month".

"You already had a month and you lost it. Nah, I just can't wait that long. I'll give you a week Tinny. But if you dissapoint me again, well you really don't want to know."

With a smile that screamed charming Yang Chao exited.

"Anyone got any bright ideas"? Tin Zu grumbled, silently wondering how far away he could get in one week. Not far enough he figured.

Fenghuang herself also thought. We could sell stuff in the market, something people will buy a lot of and pay a lot for, and something we can get cheap. _Vodka's kinda expensive this season._

* * *

 _Footnote: Hello it's me !  
_

 _This story is a collaboration fic with Berserker88, and to a lesser but no less important extent Mind Jack. Danzaburo Danaki and Daimyo Masuta belong to Berserker88, while Yang Chao belongs to Mind Jack._

 _So far the rest are Dreamworks and of course myself._

 _Dono and kun are japanese honorifics. Dono is used in respect to a greater person, while not humbling oneself. Kun is to talk to a student (from the teacher) or from a parent to a child. It can also be used in a derogatory fashion for men._

 _In case you were wondering how much vodka rests in that cave one duo is equal to ten metric litres, so the three hundred duo would equal three thousand litres of vodka._

 _This idea was originally Berserker's and then Mind Jack wrote a Death Battle on the thing and bada bing bada boom this was created._

 _So enjoy and update soon._


	2. Personifications

The fox spat out a mouthful of water which flew and disappeared into the air. "Fifty yuan"!

The innkeep looked down at him unhappily. "Well what did you expect"?

"It's a cup of water. You don't pay fifty yuan for a cup of water", the kit explained slowly as if it was some complex scientific principle.

"Yes, well you can pay for the water, the overdue rent, flooding the kitchen with bathwater oh and did I mention the overdue rent"!

Now the fox gulped as the bill was handed to him, and the innkeep stormed off to the kitchen.

"I'll pay...another time", the vulpine lied weakly as he made his way to the staircase directly opposite the kitchen.

Danzaburo Danaki sighed as he watched the whole thing occur from his delightfully dark little corner. He was in rat form, just in case, and had not spoken once to the shapeshifter, having decided he would firstly analyze him, before making his move.

He had been keeping watch on the fox for a week and in all that time he had learnt a lot… of useless information. The shapeshifter was amateur, he kept to the same form and was always referred to by the same name, typical rookie mistake. He was not particularly cunning, and seemed to struggle with basic education, like writing or arithmetic. He was quiet and reserved, qualities which Danzaburo appreciated, but somewhat too trusting over the bat he shared a room with. He sighed and was about to leave when the innkeep came up to him.

"I suppose you'll be wanting a room", the duck muttered, as if the very thought of having another customer was too vile for him to digest.

Danzaburo replied automatically. "Of course", his accent was perfect chinese, without even a hint of his mother tongue. "Tell me, do you originate from Japan"?

"Of course", the goose muttered. was short, fat, and bad-tempered, so a regular innkeep.

"How much is the rent for one night"? Danzaburo asked, changing the subject. This way he could know how long the kit had been staying at the place.

"Five yuan, but the first night is free", Kenji answered, pulling out a glass of water from out of nowhere.

 _Ten days, he's been here ten days and already the innkeep hates him. I need to see what he's like up close._

The opportunity presented itself almost immediately as the bat sharing his room crossed the room and left the inn.

"I think I'll sleep somewhere else", the rat that was Danzaburo told the now-scowling as he left the room to go after the bat.

He knew quite a bit about him as well. The bat was also young, the same age as the fox. He was easily the dumber of the two, and more than likely he was also the weaker. He was however incredibly loyal and obedient, qualities that Danzaburo could respect, and more importantly, qualities he could imitate.

Right now Shan Qu turned into a narrow side-street. An empty one.

Changing into another form, this one a wolf, Danzaburo crept up on the unsuspecting bat, who whistled on oblivious to the danger, until he was tapped on the shoulder.

He turned with a "What"? Only to see the fist cutting the air in front of his face.

* * *

There was a knock at the door, and Saras opened it, expecting to find a raging . Instead he saw an owl and a wolf staring down at him.

"You're the vodka seller"?

"Maybe", Saras narrowed his eyes, the owl looked familiar, but he doubted he had ever met her before.

"You're coming with us", the wolf said, hoisting him across the shoulder in a rather less than friendly way. Saras allowed himself to be taken by the pair while he thought of an escape route. He wasn't stupid enough to not know what a kidnap was when he saw one.

The wolf was burly, and was clearly twice his strength, but he was wearing a bandage over his rump. The owl was pretty, but would have been far prettier without the excessive amount of jewelry she wore. As far as he could see there was only two of them. That was a good thing. He watched the wolf's bandaged rump, it was out of his range unfortunately, which prevented him from biting or slicing at it with his teeth or claws. The wolf's tail however was just in reach. The owl led the way down the stairs, the wolf followed, but as soon as he took one foot off the floor Saras shut his jaws around the wolf's flickering tail.

"AAAAAAAAWWW"! The lupine leapt a foot in the air, his paws leaped into the air of their own accord, forgetting the vulpine that had been their captive. Saras rolled in the air and slid down the staircase pole, ducking under the owl's open wings, and watching with some satisfaction as the wolf tumbled into the avian's feet, sending the pair of them rolling down the stairs and into one of 's tables, which promptly collapsed on top of them.

Saras leapt off the pole and was about to smugly call in the bartender, only for a gorrila's foot to stomp into the ground in front of him. He looked up at the ape's piggy little eyes as they stared down at him.

"Heh-heh", he teleported just as the gorilla made to catch him in his arms. The ape spun around confusedly only to note the fox running away, his tongue sticking out rudely. Then the door crashed into his smug features and Shan Qu walked into the room. The door closed again and Saras' squashed features glared at the bat, only for the owl to get to her feet shakily.

"Get that kit"!

Forgetting Shan Qu Saras smashed the door open and raced out into the open, only to be tripped by another fox, who leapt on top of him.

"I got him"!

Shapeshifting into a hedgehog the other vulpine was soon screaming as spines stuck into his chest. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAW"! Shan Qu chuckled as the fox threw himself off of the shapeshifter, who promptly transformed into an armadillo, with pink and purple plates, curling into a ball Saras sped off just as the owl barged out of the inn in hot pursuit.

Shan Qu became Danzaburo for a brief moment as he chuckled to himself. This afternoon promised to be humourous.

Saras spun madly before shifting into a fox and throwing himself under a cart as his pursuers chased after him. He panted. Why are they after me ?

He had no more thinking time as the cart was kicked onto it's side by a very pissed-looking ape. He grinned, before teleporting onto the other side of the overturned cart and shifter again. He was a mouse, his fur was brown and his pants were blue. He ploughed right into a crowd of people, before suddenly coming to a halt and gulping. As he viewed the world around him he realized just how small he was. More worried about getting stamped on than actual pursuit he changed forms again, this time into a mole. He would have burrowed into the earth but this street was lined in cobblestones. He was suddenly lifted into the air by the fox from before.

"You think this is funny"?!

It was hard not to laugh, the vulpine had five needles sticking out of his chest and his eyes were bloodshot and furious.

"No, I think you are in need of medical attention". He caught a punch for that and was thrown onto the ground. People were starting to watch now.

"Come then, if you think this is some sort of"- Saras threw a pebble at where his crotch was, he knew this because of course he was familiar with vulpine biology. The fox bent over in pain, the shapeshifter (still a mole) strolled up to him and delivered a slap right across the snout.

Saras turned around and ducked under the owl again, before making a run for the canals. If there was one surefire way to throw off his pursuer then he knew it. Diving into the icy cold murky water he morphed into a catfish.

Fenghuang chuckled and spoke to the fox who looked like he really did need medical attention. "The kid really doesn't get how far ahead we can think, does he"?

As if on cue a crocodile swam up from the canal, his mouth bulging, with two 'thumbs' up.

Then he got the shock of his life as the catfish let loose some volts of electricity into him.

Spitting out the shapeshifter the crocodile fell over, and with a splash crashed back into the water.

Saras shook himself and morphed back into a fox. Only to note the gorilla's fist coming for his nose. _Oh dear._

It was funny while it lasted, Danzaburo decided as he followed the group of battered kidnappers as they carried off the other shapeshifter. _Now let's see what the kit got himself into._

* * *

 _Footnote: In case it's not clear, Danzaburo went from being a rat, to being a generic wolf, to Shan Qu. And what about the real Shan Qu ? Well read on and you will see. MUHAHAHAHAHA.  
_

 _A thank you to Berserker88 for looking over it, and to all my dear readers and reviewers._

 _Anyways I hope you enjoy and Update soon._


	3. Talking Business

The cell was icy cold, so empty, black and barren that when Saras opened his eyes he forgot they were open. Finding nothing else to do but stare up at the ceiling,the fox couldn't help wondering why he was here. For starters he was innocent of any crime, so that ruled out any of this being legal. Secondly he, nor the Bat Cave had any conflict with the gangs of Gongmen City and third of all he hadn't done anything since arriving save for making sure a bunch of alcohol wasn't frozen altogether. He sighed and watched in the darkness as his breath curled into a wisp of grey and vanished into the air. He heard footsteps followed by the clattering of chains, he heard the door unlock and sat up. He decided against trying to escape and allowed himself to be lifted into the air and carried by a wolf who's rump and tail were now bandaged tightly. Saras decided it was a bad idea to start chatting up to someone you put in under the effects of his 'sedation',Saras was too tired to take note of the surroundings.

Which was a shame because Tin Zu's new base was quite the colourful place.

Danzaburo stopped himself from laughing as he stepped into the large, square looking brick house, currently disguised as the guard he put to the ground in roughly two seconds. There was one main room, a staircase that led to a single door upstairs and a minute landing, and a staircase that led down into the earth. The room was carpeted plainly, with a large roll of black wool that covered the floor, the walls were simple plain mud bricks, that showed someone hadn't been bothered to paint it, there was a pile of unused bricks in one corner, which indicated a lack in mathematical skill from whoever had bought all of it, and a pile of steel rods in the opposing corner. To Danzaburo's left were a pile of scrolls, and to his right stood a weapon's rack. The place stunk of bad management, and Dazaburo couldn't help wondering why anyone who lived in a place as rundown as this, would want anything to do with a shapeshifter.

He heard footsteps, and morphed into a rat, a species that was small enough to hide with ease amongst the old, unused bricks.

He watched as a wolf, his lower half bandaged profusely, led the way, holding Saras at arm's length away, as if afraid he was going to get a few more bandages. The wolf headed up the staircase and Danzaburo followed silently behind. The lupine reached the second floor's minute landing and knocked on the door carefully. The door was opened and the wolf made his way in, closely followed by Danza, who squeezed in just before the door shut.

Compared to the dank cell he had resided in for the past couple of hours the office was a welcome breath of fresh air. It was small, and made even smaller by all the people crammed inside. Saras was allowed onto his feet, the wolf nodded and made his way outside. He opened the door, tripped suddenly and fell screaming all the way down to the first floor. Saras gulped and shivered, the office was colder than his cell had been.

"Sit down, if you please, there are many things which I am eager to discuss with you", a deep voice commanded. Saras obeyed wearily and sat on a chair that made him feel even smaller. As if that wasn't bad enough, he noted the ape across the desk from him. Tin Zu was accurately described in one word. Big. His arms were huge, and bigger than some logs, his hands were massive and bigger than your usual wok. Saras forced a grin, as if he was talking to an uncle, rather than a known crime lord, and one Aang had told him almost specifically to avoid. Saras glanced around the office. The walls were painted light blue, the floor was carpeted red, the desk was oak, the chairs were huge, and consisted of more cushion than actual wood, so much so that the fox was slightly worried he would sink into it and be lost forever. Along Tin Zu's desk were several pictures, a life sized rat model and a knife stuck into the oak. Saras blinked and the rat model suddenly vanished. Had it even been there ? Saras looked keenly at the photos, deciding there had never been a rat model. One was of a lady gorilla, who wore too much makeup, but smiled quite sweetly and held a bundle of cloths motherly. Another was Tin Zu's wanted poster and the last five were of a baby gorilla who Saras suspected was Tin Zu's son.

"Admiring the scenery are we"? The ape asked.

"No sir, I just got, er- distracted".

Danzaburo would have facepalmed. _How did that kit even get to Japan, let alone rob the Silver Fang Clan's vaults ?_

"I understand, you've been through a lot today. But sometimes kid you can't find an escape route. That's what you really were doing, am I right"?

 _Well, we have one dumb kit and one blind ape._

"...Sure".

"Okay, I'm just gonna cut to the chase. I heard from sources that you work for the Bat Cave, small fry, but . I heard you had vodka for sale, I think I'm going to be the one to buy it".

Danzaburo did facepalm this time. _The chinese really are idiots sometimes. The gorilla just staged a kidnapping in broad daylight to buy alcohol ?_

"You staged a kidnapping in broad daylight to buy alchohol"?

 _Okay, at least he has some common sense._

"I assure you, I'm beyond suspicion, the Gongmen Council have my son hostage in the Tower of Sacred Flame. They think I wouldn't do anything now".

"...Right. So, a price"?

"Not now, later on. I will give you a visit personally in two days. For now retrieving my son is top priority. So expect a deal and have the stuff ready. I'm sure you can show yourself out".

"I'll, manage", Saras answered after a pause, before getting up and exiting slowly, being careful to go down one step at a time.

Danzaburo followed suite.


	4. Master Golden Butt-Kicker

**A/N: I decided one update a week was not up to my normal standard, so I went and wrote this XD.**

Saras was exhausted by the time he got back to Kenji's Place. He flopped onto his bed and let sleep take him. Danzaburo sighed. The kit had been kidnapped and locked up, talked face to face with a crime lord, and the second he got 'home' all he could do was sleep. That stunk of low work ethic. He left something under the fox's bed andleft the room and let the fox sleep.

Neither were aware that Saras was to have a third visitor that day.

Lao Pi, aka Master Golden Gibbon the inn carefully. He was a middle-aged gibbon, bent over a cane, wearing old grey robes that were both too big and too decrepit to fit him properly. The gibbon's fur was a dirty brown, save for the usual white and black facial mask his species possessed. He chuckled to himself. Danzaburo has lost his touch, he was much easier to trace this time. Silently he entered Kenji's place, walking past a rat who made his way out.

The world of Saras'' dreams were white, snow covered the land, but cold was not a factor, he was playing with his knives, throwing them into an old oak tree, he felt a paw on his shoulder and turned around. He saw the old bat maid that had been the mother he had never known. "Mama"? Then a fist crashed into his nose and he was awake, something was standing over him, the moonlight of the window revealed a hunched, grey figure, holding him down with a cane, the figure's arm raised to land another blow if needed.

"You're coming with me", the figure said in a gruff voice.

"No thanks", Saras teleported in a flash of green, finding himself on the other side of the room, where he kept his arsenal. He drew his pair of spiked daggers and turned back to the figure. From this new angle Saras could see that his opponent was a gibbon, with dirty brown fur and grey robes, armed with a cane. An old man tried to murder me in my sleep. "Listen grandpa, I think you've had one too many drinks"-

Lao Pi cut straight through the conversation, with a lightning fast jab to the vulpine's belly, before swinging his cane around to deal a stinging blow upon Saras' ears. "Humph, I expected more from you"!

"Is that a fact", Saras retorted, before throwing one of his daggers. It would have taken Lao Pi in the head, had the gibbon not sent it spiralling into the wall with his cane. Saras jabbed with his other dagger, Lao Pi dodged and grabbed him by the forearm, before spinning in a circle and throwing the shapeshifter onto his bed, the impact shattering it's legs, the vulpine's dagger lay on the floor, Golden Gibbon kicked it away, and waited for Saras to get to his feet before continuing to press his offensive. Saras ducked under the cane, but was unable to avoid the palm that slammed into his chest and knocked him back into the wall. Lao Pi pressed the cane around his throat. "I'd recommend you go quietly"!

"Make me"! Saras shifted in a puff of green, his fur turned to scales and his arms morphed into wings as he became a dragon, albeit a small one. Flames burst from his mouth, but Lao Pi spun away from them, before whacking the top of the shapeshifter's head with his cane.

Saras spun around, his sharp tail tip flew into the primate's face, but Golden Gibbon caught it in his paw, before dropping his foot upon the shapeshifter's back, he regretted this when a puff of green later he held onto no tail and his foot was imbedded in a pile of hedgehog spines. Pressing his first advantage Saras spun around, forcing the gibbon to fall onto his side, but thankfully dislodging the primate's foot from the hedgehog's back. Saras transformed again, this time into a mole, and leapt at the ape's face, slamming his palms into the gibbon's ears. Lao Pi pushed away the offending mammal with his cane, before catching the shapeshifter's arm in one paw and spinning it behind his back, he was about to land the finishing blow when he realized how easy it had actually been. He had spent years tracking the Spy of a Thousand Scents, surely he should put up much more of a fight than this.

Saras also had a revelation. The only reason someone would be after him would be to get to Tin Zu, right ?

"I know who you're after. You didn't hear it from me, but he's up on the cliffs, old house quite plain", he winced as Lao Pi's grip tightened around his wrist and pushed it further up."That's all I'm saying". Lao Pi paused. The fox was clearly not Danzaburo, a skilled liar could come up with a better bluff than that. The fox had no reason to tell him the truth, but no reason to lie either, he could check out this place on the cliffs, and if the fox was lying well, it wouldn't be too hard to find him again. The gibbon released him, let him drop to the floor and left.

Saras' head spun dizzily. He figured that if he had been less tired he would have stood a better chance against the gibbon, but then again, for an old man, his strength had been second to none. He rolled onto his belly in an effort to get up. That's when he found the note, someone had left,lying unharmed in front of his nose..

'If you want your bat back you will meet me tomorrow at midnight on top of the Tower of Sacred Flame. Alone'.

Midnight, why is it always midnight, at that point, exhaustion snatched at him and he fell back into his world of white dream.

* * *

 _Footnotes: Lao Pi belongs to Berserker88, essentially he's Danzaburo's hunter.  
_

 _How many of you noticed that Danzaburo and Lao Pi walked past each other in this chapter ?_

 _I hope you enjoyed and Update soon._


	5. Kitsune, Tanukis and Jit Kun

The wind was freezing. Danzaburo shivered as he stood there, on the very top of the Tower of Sacred Flame, the wind and weather battering him mercilessly as he waited there, his patience beginning to wear thin. The shapeshifter was supposed to have been here half an hour ago ! Danzaburo scowled. He had not brought Shan Qu with him, as he had promised, but the point was to build trust, and see what the fox could do. He needed time to do that, and if he gave back the bat, well then there was no guarantee the fox wouldn't leave. He heard the sound of flapping and a few seconds later Saras landed. He transformed into a fox, one that suffered even more from the cold than Danzaburo. The two eyed each other uneasily.

"Where's Shan"? Saras finally opted to ask, a little bit surprised by the tanuki's appearance.

The japanese spy smiled disarmingly. "He's safe".

Saras scowled. "Where is he"?

"Somewhere".

"Don't play games with me"!

"Or what"?

Saras blinked, he hadn't gotten that far.

The tanuki smirked. Danzaburo spoke Japanese. _"Come now, we can be honest with each other"._

"Um"-

"You don't recognise your own mother-tongue ? Tsk, tsk, you're either a very good actor or have very bad memory".

 _What is he talking about ?_ Saras asked himself, his face the very portrait of confusion.

Danzaburo felt his heart flutter, _why was this child trying to lie to him_ ?

"You can shapeshift. That's very impressive, I've seen you fight. For one so young you are quite skilled".

"I had a good, er, teacher", this was quickly getting very uncomfortable.

"Was he a shapeshifter too"? Danzaburo's mind formed the image of a whole community of secret tanukis.

"No, he was just, familiar with,er, magic and stuff".

"Maybe I know him"?

"I don't think you do." Said Saras with a nervous chuckle.

Danzaburo scowled on the inside, this fox was hiding something.

"You're very fond of that form of yours".

"I'm a fox, what do you expect"? Saras was extremely confused by now.

Danzaburo slapped him. It wasn't very hard, but was enough to sting more than a little. All the while the tanuki watched his form. His eyes in particular. Notrhing. There was no change.

"What was that for"? Saras demanded.

Danzaburo's voice changed. It conveyed a far more serious tone. "Well, that's interesting to note. You're a shapeshifter, but you're not a tanuki. That makes you a kitsune."

Saras moved cautiously backwards, the tanuki followed him, edging ever closer, soon Saras realized he had reached the edge and gulped.

"And another thing is, you now know too much".

Unexpectedly the tanuki jabbed forwards with a katana that seemed to come out of nowhere. Saras moved backwards instinctively, accidentally tripping when he realized that there was no more roof behind him. His fall ended as quickly as it had begun as he snatched the only thing within his grasp, which happened to be the katana. His paws snatched the blade between them. The sudden weight made Danzaburo trip forwards, but the tanuki kept his balance. Saras teleported to the other side of the roof. His paws were cut deeply, and blood oozed freely. The sight of it made his blood boil, ignoring the pain he balled his paws into fists, the majority of his arsenal having been left in his room. Danzaburo turned sharply, the blade came down quickly, but Saras blocked it with the spikes that lined the edges of his rice hat. Letting go of the hat he spun in close to Danza, his paws shot out and slapped the mammal on both ears from both sides. Slightly disorientated Danzaburo let go of the katana and let it drop over the edge, rice hat still attached to it. His fist suddenly leapt upwards, and caught Saras' chin in an uppercut. The fox's nose was now bleeding a bit, Saras wiped it away hurriedly, whilst dodging Danzaburo's attacks. The last thing he needed was to go Blood Diamond now. He caught Danza's next punch and transformed into a platypus. He spun around, his club like tail smashing into the tanuki's face with the force of a hammer. Danzaburo lost his balance and went teetering over the edge. Saras panted softly.

But it wasn't over yet. A hawk barged into him from behind, knocking him over the edge as well. Saras chose his crane form. The two collided mid-air, and both transformed, Danzaburo became a leopard and Saras became a mole. Both fell through the air like a pair of boulders. Danzaburo headbutted Saras, who retaliated with a claw swipe that cut Danzaburo clean across the chest, ruining his vest but alas failing to draw blood. The leopard grabbed the mole and twisted mid-air, so that the smaller mammal would be the first to land. Saras changed forms again. This time he became a dragon. His wings expanded behind him like a parachute as he breathed a bolt of flame, which the feline was lucky to avoid. Danzaburo leapt off of the dragon, before assuming his normal form and launching a single leaf towards tilted his head away from it, but it exploded mid-air in an eruption of tar, which covered half of the Jit Kun's face. Saras steadied himself, before remembering that he had the advantage of flight. He promptly swooped into the falling form of the Japanese spy and sent him flying into the Tower of Sacred Flame. Danzaburo caught himself before becoming a crane and sending a gust of wind to deter the other shapeshifter's blast of fire. The attacks collided mid-air and burnt each other out. The two eyed each other for a second, before continuing. Saras teleported behind Danzaburo, now as a fox, and performed the infamous Backstabber's Leg Sweep as Daitui had taught him. The technique was performed by shifting one's body weight between one foot, while reaching out in a moving semi-circle with the other leg, before switching feet. It was supposed to disorientate an opponent, but Danzaburo had seen it before. Still in crane form, he lifted one foot to avoid both leg sweeps, before suddenly bringing his talons down on the vulpine's face. This proved to be somewhat unhelpful when he found that the tar had stuck the two of them together, like some sort of unorthodox glue.

* * *

Tin Zu heard the noises of battle from outside his office. He heard grunts, yelps, Fuzzy Fujian getting fly-kicked. He couldn't stop himself from lifting a hand into his face in his signature face-palm. Once again his entire gang was having their asses handed to them. First it had been the Masters Council, that was understandable. Then there was how the fox kit had injured four of his men in what was supposed to be a friendly invitation. And now yet another assailant was giving them a knuckle sandwich. Tin Zu cracked his knuckles and pushed aside his entire desk, leaving the space between the door and him, empty. The noises of struggle came to a halt, but his hearing was better than most thought. Footsteps were coming his way. Time to see which loony thinks they can mess with me.

Apparently it was a deranged one.

The door flew open and in walked Master Golden Gibbon, though of course Tin Zu thought he was just some guy. The gorilla stopped himself from facepalming. A kid and then an old man showed my boy's who's boss. I am going to have to have a serious conversation with them afterwards.

"Is there a problem"? Came Tin Zu's voice, deep and deceptively slow.

The gibbon wordlessly entered his stance. Tin Zu did likewise. He had no problem beating up the old man.

"You know what the problem is", Lao Pi said, before charging forwards and punching the gorilla.

Tin Zu's whole fighting style was about absorbing the power of an opponent's blow and using it against them. This old man, however, had too much power. The gorilla flew out the window.

* * *

Saras found out the hard way that if he teleported he would only be taking his opponent with him. He had wanted to teleport to the other side of the shapeshifter and take him unaware's, but of course that hadn't worked out and he had dragged Danzaburo with him. Both were now in their original forms. Somehow their fight had taken themselves away from the Tower of Sacred Flame and into the Training Grounds of the Masters Council. Saras pulled his head back, and pulled Danzaburo with him, before kicking the shapeshifter in between the legs, where every man's weakness was. The spy hollered, and retaliated by bringing his leg and Saras' head, down onto the ground, before bringing his other leg down onto the vulpine's nose, which promptly got a tad bit bloodier. Danzaburo brought it down again, but this time Saras opened his jaw, as wide as he could with all the tar still on his face and let the tanuki's leg drop into his maw, only to allow his sharp teeth to deal with his opponent. Danzaburo hollered again.

Really it was a miracle noone had awoken yet.

* * *

Tin Zu was astounded, the 'old' man was throwing him around like he weighed nothing. Tin Zu was a big guy, even for his species, and he was heavy, but this lighweight little gibbon was beating the crap out of him. Tin Zu however, did manage to put up more of a fight than his gang. Lao Pi swung, by now Tin Zu knew better than to block, and so sidestepped it, before catching the ape by the shoulder. Lao Pi, however twisted around and landed a back-kick, which sent the ape flying into a tree. The gorilla stood up, brushed away the pain, cracked his neck, and waited his opponent's next attack.

* * *

Saras soon learned that with one nostril covered by tar and another coated in blood, and what with his mouth full of tanuki leg, breathing was beginning to get quite difficult. He released his grip on Danzaburo's leg, and rolled, so that the tanuki was forced onto his back, the wind knocked out of him. Saras' eyes darted around the training square. There had to be something he could use here. Anything to get this stupid racoon off of him. That was when he caught sight of Master Storming Ox's Axes.

He had no more time to think when Danzaburo pulled at his cheek with his leg, clearly wanting off as well. Saras signaled with his paws for half-time, the japanese spy gave him a curious look. Saras pointed once at the axe, then at the tar. Danzaburo understood. Getting to their feet, the tanuki promptly hopped towards them on one leg, while dragging the fox along the ground with him. They had gotten two feet closer, when Saras got tired of being dragged, stood up, and Danzaburo promptly fell over.

* * *

Lao Pi had him cornered. But he was once again having his doubts, surely someone as enigmatic as Danzaburo Danaki could put up more of a fight then _that_. He sighed, the Spy of a Thousand Scents was supposed to be the best spy in Japan's arsenal, and yet this one wouldn't even shapeshift. Lao Pi threw Tin Zu into another tree, and this time the gorilla did not rise, the gibbon sighed, dramatically. He was back to square one, or rather he was going to have to go back to his only other lead. The fox.

* * *

After what seemed like a century, the pair managed to drag one another towards the axe. Now this was the tricky part.

Danzaburo watched as the fox lay on the ground. He was clearly rethinking the idea, and audibly gulped. The tanuki lifting the axe above him. The tanuki had no doubts whatsoever now, the fox was an idiot, or the most naive person he had ever met, or both. He was lying on the ground asking to get decapitated. Danzaburo sighed. It would be so easy to bring the axe head down on the fox's skull, it would be death in one second, or more, depending on how sharp Ox kept his weapons.

Danzaburo had been so angry when he realized that the fox was not a tanuki, but rage had also clouded his judgement, kitsune had more than one tail, this fox had exactly one. He had been so angry he would have killed the fox on the spot, but over the course of the fight, he had realized something. He was angry at the wrong person. After all it wasn't the kit's fault he was the only tanuki left alive.

The tanuki lifted the axe and brought it down on the tar, not cutting even a single piece of Saras' fur. Saras' eyes slowly opened, to see Danzaburo looking in the other direction.

Saras was tired, he was cold. He stood up and entered his stance, though he did so shakily, and sneezed half way.

"Go home", the tanuki finally said with a sigh. Saras blinked, stumbled backwards, turned and finally walked away.


	6. A Recipe for Disaster

Danzaburo had not slept per say, rather he had mediated. He had been sent to bring in the Chinese Shapeshifter, that had been the best possible outcome after all, and Danzaburo always aimed high. But now he was thinking of his next course of action. The shapeshifter probably wanted nothing more to do with him, probably because he had nearly killed the kit in cold blood over him not being a tanuki. What a stupid reason to die for. Then again it was stupid to kill someone for _being_ a tanuki as well. He sighed and pushed back a lot of memories. Right now they would only cloud his judgement. And his judgement would have to be clear.

On one paw he could give up and go back to Japan (that of course was a course of action he was never going to take).

He could commit suicide after admitting failure (but Danzaburo was too stubborn to admit failure).

Or finally he could just continue trying to carry on with his mission. It was the only option left after all. He sighed and began meditating on how he would proceed with his mission.

Two minutes later he rose and grinned. He already had a plan.

* * *

Saras woke up to the sound of someone banging on his door.

 _Leave me alone_ , he grumbled into his head. After the fight he had spent the rest of the night pulling tar off his cheek, and licking and bandaging his poor paws. His nose he had cleaned of all the dried blood and he had had about two hours of sleeps when the banging made him wake up. Muttering bloody murder he opened the door, and gazed from under drooping eyelids at the form of Kenji, who looked extremely pleased with himself. _Uh oh._

The old brown duck smirked with simple pride. "You promised you would one day repay the long overdue rent", his smirk became a grin at the look of horror on Saras' face. "I now have a way you can do just that".

Saras gulped, the shock had shaken away his sleepiness, but now he was wishing the fight with the tanuki had ended differently.

* * *

"I think you could start with scrubbing all this from top to bottom", said Kenji with barely hidden delight.

Saras blinked at the pile of dirty dishes heaped onto a large pot filled to the brim in soapy water. He felt his eyes droop and shook his head to keep them open. Then Kenji handed him a wet tea towel and with a large grin on his face,said something which Saras was too tired to hear and finally left the kitchen to the shapeshifter.

Saras nearly fell asleep but then remembered that he had a job to do. Picking up a dirty wok pan he got to work.

* * *

Lao Pi was the inn's first customer as he strolled inside, cracking his knuckles. He had come to the conclusion that the fox might have actually been Danzaburo, who had of course tricked him in order to get away. The first thing he saw the kitchen door standing slightly ajar, inside he could see the fox kit working at a huge pile of dishes. Lao Pi pulled up a chair and decided to watch and wait. After all the kit would be going nowhere.

* * *

Saras soon learned that the easiest way to scrub the dishes clean was if the water was hot, that way the heat itself would clean away half the dirt. He shapeshifted and chose his dragon form, before breathing a steady bolt of flames onto the large metal pot, heating it. He watched with minor satisfaction as steam started rising out of the pot. Transforming back into a fox he selected a wooden spoon and wiped it once with the towel. Impressed by the results he proceeded to morph back into a dragon, and dry it with a gust of flame. He forgot however that wood was flammable. He shook the spoon in the air as gradually the flames licked it's wooden stem black. He dropped it back into the boiling water. Kenji wouldn't miss one wooden spoon would he ?

Lao Pi couldn't help chuckling a little at the kit's inability to dry a wooden spoon. Watching and waiting seemed like a good course of action after all.

When he wasn't dealing with flammable objects the process was rather simple. Fox form;clean, dragon form; dry. He was finished nearly as soon as he had begun, and had burnt only one wooden spoon and two pairs of chopsticks. He was feeling rather proud of himself when Kenji walked back in, tut-tutting.

"Tsk tsk, very slow,very slow. An hour and a half to clean a few dishes. Good thing you're not a servant".

Saras bit back a retort, knowing quite well that there was no way he was going to be let off dish duty if he answered back.

The duck strolled into a cupboard and came out with a broom. "Now you can sweep this place up until it gets busy". The avian practically shoved the shaft into the vulpine's paws. Saras whinced at the jolt of sudden pain, but ignored it, forced himself to nod and got to work.

Lao Pi couldn't help but smile a little. _Serves him right, the young whippersnapper getting his tail handed to him by his elder and better._

The floor wasn't even dirty, but Kenji kept the kit going at it for a good half hour, with a series of never-ending remarks of 'you missed a spot' or a 'oops, I guess you'll have to start again', after the duck 'accidentally' spilled a pot full of old soup.

By then however Saras still received no mercy. "Good, we have a few customers now. I think one day of hard work should be enough for the fifty yuan you already owe me, don't you agree"?

Saras opened his mouth to retort, but Kenji passed him a dusty apron that somehow fit him, with the symbol of sleep stitched onto it.

"What are you waiting for, go grab some orders"!

Saras walked off with as much dignity as he could muster. His heart skipped a beat when he realized that his first customer was Lao Pi. He gulped and began walking far slower than he normally would.

The gibbon wore a big smile on his face when Saras came to him. "What will you be having"? Saras asked with gritted teeth.

The simian's smile grew a bit bigger after that. "I think I'd like something extra special you know, it's not everyday I get to eat here. Let me see". He searched in his head for the most complicated recipe he had ever heard of. Then he saw the pained look on Saras' face and took some pity on the kit."Noodle soup".

Saras would have sighed with relief, but he had no idea how to make it. He walked back into the kitchen, where Kenji placed a scroll in his paws and sat back to watch him. Saras opened the scroll to find a recipe. He read it quickly.

 _Ingredients:_

 _medium carrots, sliced_ _celery ribs, sliced_ _fresh thyme sprigs_ _bay leaves_ _block of tofu_ _water_ _noodles_ _fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped_ _salt and pepper_

 _Instructions_

 _Heat oil over medium heat. Add carrots, celery, thyme and bay leaf. Cook and stir; add tofu. Cook until vegetables are softened, but not browned._ _Add water and bring to a boil. Once the mixture is boiling, add noodles and simmer._ _Season with salt and pepper and garnish with parsley before serving_.  
Saras stared at it. It couldn't be _that_ hard could it ?

* * *

 _Two hours later._

* * *

Saras never looked worse for wear as he walked out of the kitchen. His paws had burns all over them, somehow he had cut himself, noodles clung to his face, which was also coated in a thick layer of black ash.

"Here's, your order", he said with a throat full of dust, and handed Lao Pi a bowl of soup that looked like everything the fox wasn't. The gibbon pinched out the fire on Saras' tail, trying not to laugh. _At least now I'm certain he's not Danzaburo_.

Saras watched in shame as Lao Pi slurped up two hours of work in under five minutes. The gibbon rose. "It was a good soup." He said simply. "Though making your customers wait isn't exactly a good business plan." Saras went red under his mask of ash. The gibbon turned to leave, but then felt the need to impart some wisdom into the youngster. "Be careful. Life is always dangerous, especially for one with your talents. Keep what's good about you close to you. Remember that."

Saras felt like the gibbon was just giving him a really long speech about _not_ getting a job in a noodle shop. But nodded anyways.

He turned back to the kitchen. He opened the door to find the place he had scrubbed clean only a few hours ago, the biggest mess ever. He had burnt five wooden spoons and two woks in the process of making what Lao Pi deemed 'good soup'. He gulped and turned to Kenji, who was grinning bizarrely. Then he heard words he would never expect to hear.

"Go back to bed". Saras ripped off his apron and handed it to the duck, before leaving. He was once again exhausted.

When the kitchen door closed what he didn't notice was the duck transform into a tanuki. Danzaburo grinned. The time meditating had been well spent indeed. He only pitied that the gibbon had had to wait so long for his food. Moving over to the pot he pulled up a ladle-ful and drunk deeply. _Good soup_.


	7. The Incident of Dissapearing Kenjis

"Are you insane"!?

"What was I supposed to do, leave a little sweetheart like him all alone in some drearyvery cell"?

"Well maybe you could have asked first before kidnapping Tin Zu's one and only son"!

"I wasn't kidnapping him, I was just bringing him along".

"His dad is the size of a mountain ! And I really don't think he likes me. _This_ , is just asking to get killed"!

"Calm down. We'll just return him and say it was a simple misunderstanding".

Saras was at first overjoyed to find Shan Qu back alive and well. Then a baby gorilla as big as him began chewing on his tail. After being molested by a giant baby,(a molestation which had ended up with him sucking on a baby bottle), Saras had asked Shan Qu _what_ he was doing. Shan Qu had explained that he had been locked in the Tower of Sacred Flame by someone and that he had woken up on that morning, to find all the doors unlocked. On his way out he had stumbled upon Tin Zu's infant son, who he had delightedly brought along.

Saras looked from the baby who was currently trying to fit his toe into his mouth, giggling the whole while, and shaking the entire bed while doing so., to Shan Qu, who's eyes widened into a form of puppy dog eyes.

"Please can we keep him. Please, please, please, please, please". Saras found Shan Qu's eyes right in front of his, which was impressive as the fox was twice the bat's size.

"Fine, we'll keep him. For now. Until I can return him to Tin Zu." Saras swallowed a yawn, and remembered his exhaustion. "For now, I'm going to sleep".

He turned to the bed, and remembered the gorilla still there. "Alright kid. There's one bed and two of us. This can only end one way".

* * *

 _Two minutes later_...

* * *

Saras landed on his tail, rather stunned by the strength the baby gorilla already had. Tin Zu's son was giggling away, as if this was some great big game, Shan Qu was trying to not laugh out loud and Saras was trying to keep some dignity, which was at this point an impossible task. Deciding that he would only humiliate himself even further, he picked up a pillow and headed downstairs. Surely wouldn't mind him sleeping in the kitchens, after all the duck had had him working hard all morning.

* * *

Yang Chao was whistling pleasantly to himself, watching the looks of terror the members of Tin Zu's gang gave him as he strolled past. Tin Zu was in the center of the room, and for once as he turned to look at Yang Chao, he looked strangely relieved.

"Tinny, you look like you got up on the wrong side of bed this morning".

"Look Mr. Chao, I had the stuff, I had everything, I was going to pay you back in stock. Vodka barrels. Three hundred duo. All yours to do with as you please. I still can actually, but something happened."

Yang Chao sighed inwardly. "Tinny, if you give me another family crisis, I swear I'll kill you. First it's 'boss, boss my wife died'. Then it's 'boss, boss the Masters Council took my son'. What next ? Your sister get pregnant or something"?

The gorilla masked his pain well. "We were attacked." _By an elderly ape_. "By a shapeshifter. The vodka dealer, he knew all sorts of black magic and stuff. Unfortunately I heard tell that he left this morning". Sure it wasn't the truth, but the only one suffering was the kit, and he _had_ done some weird things.

Yang Chao smiled. "It's funny you said that Tinny, because I heard that the vodka dealer was a fox kit, and also that he's still in Gongmen City. He sounds like a very interesting type of guy. I think I'll invite him to dinner, and maybe then he'll be a little more cooperative, that sounds quite nice doesn't it. Just a polite supper, with a delightful young man."

Tin Zu gulped inwardly, but made no move on the outside. His heart was hammering.

"Enjoy your day Tin Zu, I'll expect you halfway through dinner, so that I can have a little chit-chat with our dealer".

Tin Zu nodded, and turned casually, or as casually as he could. His boss was a creepy person. Small and yet more dangerous than Tin Zu's entire gang put together. The gorilla had seen the hare kill people with one touch, or sometimes a bit less than that. And I lied to his face. Now everything depended on what the shapeshifter said. This time he gulped audibly.

* * *

Yang Chao had heard the gulp, but decided not to react. He giggled softly, and then walked away whistling once again. Dinner was always more fun with a guest.

* * *

Saras had just had two minutes of nap time, when he heard someone leave the kitchens. He opened his eyes suddenly, and saw Danzaburo strolling out, looking extremely pleased with himself.

In his sleep deprived state Saras' brain forgot to function properly. "You"! Then he kicked himself inwardly when he realized that he would have remained hidden and the tanuki would have walked past without noticing him. _Oh well, might as well improvise_. "What have you done to Kenji"?

Danzaburo had not planned on the shapeshifter being here. _Oh well, might as well improvise_. Danzaburo shapeshifted into , the duck then back to his original form.

Saras gasped. "You were him all along"!?

The tanuki didn't hesitate. "Of course. It was the only way I would be able to analyze you closely." Now that he thought about it, why hadn't he just replaced ? That would have been far simpler than kidnapping Shan Qu, locking him up in the Tower of Sacred Flames, then nearly killing the kit, then releasing Shan Qu. This wasn't how he normally did things, why was his mind working so slowly ? This whole mission he had been making rash decisions.

Saras was more than a bit weirded out by the tanuki's last statement. "And just out of curiosity ? Why were you, um, analyzing me ?" The young fox's mind came up with three possibilities. One, he was being spied on, which was just ridiculous, why would anyone be spying on him ? Two, he was a creepy stalker, this was by far the most likely. Three, he was just some assassin trying to screw with his head. He gulped, his body visibly tense.

Danzaburo laughed. And brushed the question aside with a wave of the paw. "Don't worry, it's not important".

Saras narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "Who are you anyways"?

"My name is Danzaburo."

Saras gritted his teeth. That was a bunch of useless information.

Danzaburo noticed the tension around the young fox beginning to mount. He sighed inwardly. If he was going to take this shapeshifter back with him, then he had to at least be honest. The room soon became clouded with smoke.

Saras got up, and whipped out one of his knives, the smoke was everywhere, he couldn't even see anything. Then the smoke cleared, and Saras found himself in a strange place. He was on a grassy hill on a hot summer's day surrounded by a whole bunch of Danzaburos. But no, they couldn't be Danzaburos, their eyes were different, energetic, joyful, so full of life. Saras' jaw dropped as a pair of laughing tanuki raced right through him, followed by their mother. His heart began beating against his ribs, then he felt something light land on his head. He put a paw to find that his rice hat had been returned. Danzaburo was next to him.

"I am a tanuki, Saras Kun. There were once many of us. Joyful, happy, full of life. We were pranksters, a whole clan of them." Danzaburo spoke. "We would never do anything dangerous. We would turn leaves into money or pretend to be someone's wife. But it was all just fun and games."

"What happened"?

"All good things come to an end." Was Danzaburo's simple reply.

Suddenly the tanuki's began vanishing in puffs of smoke, as if they had never been there. One by one. Saras felt a sinking feeling at the pit of his stomach. He knew where this was going.

"Once, one of our clan pulled a prank on Daimyo Masuta."

"Who's he"?

Danzaburo ignored the interruption and the question. "He feared what we could do, if left to our own devices. And so, he ordered our execution. Most tried their best to hide, and escape. But our talents were used for pranks. Noone could remain hidden for long. One by one, we dwindled."

The scene changed to a tanuki trying to escape a bunch of guards, only to find a quarrel in his back. "The Daimyo was ruthless. But he was clever in his own way. He soon came to value what he had feared. Every time one of us was caught, he would 'employ' us, to use our gifts for him. Like I said before, our talents were used for pranks. My clan vanished, one by one, little by little, all in his service." The smoke faded.

"And now I'm the only one left".

Saras felt his insides twist. He had just had the worst bedtime story of his life. But strangely he felt his heart go out to Danzaburo. His tongue found itself unable to move, or maybe it was his throat refusing to make any sound.

Then the spy turned to him. "I was honest to you. Now tell me who you are".

Saras began his tail, which would have been far more interesting to tell if he could manipulate the smoke like Danzaburo had done.

"Well I come from the village of Piaoliang. I was born into the Jit Kun. We were gifted from the moment we were born by the Yellow Emperor himself, who had entrusted us to guard the Jit Kun Crystal with our lives. I don't really remember much, I was young when it all happened, but it was the Naming Day, a day that came once every twelve years, on the fourth year of the dragon. In the Naming day we were all given our gifts by the crystal. I was the last to receive my gift, when the raiders came. Mongol raiders charged through the village in tens of thousands. They butchered my people, stole the crystal and left us for dead."

"How is it that you are still alive"? Ventured the tanuki, surprised by all the similarities he shared with the kit.

Saras shrugged. "I don't remember. All I remember was running, and then tripping, then I was in darkness for as long as I could remember. I climbed out of the wreckage of a collapsed house. I found Aang, and then all I remember is being hungry and walking. Then Daitui found us, fed us and brought us to the Bat Cave. It's been my home ever since."

Danzaburo decided that he could find out more about Aang and Daitui later on.

The two looked at each other for a long time. Then Saras broke the silence.

"You still haven't told me why you're here"?

"That is a story for another time, now, you need rest." The tanuki turned and walked away, Saras continued to stare after him. Ten minutes later he was snoring into his pillow, his dream full of tanuki, Jit Kun and snow.

* * *

Shan Qu watched as Tin Zu's son slept soundly. He was such an angelic boy. The gorilla reminded him of his own little brothers, and how he always used to tickle their noses to wake them up. He smiled at the memory, only for a quarrel to smash through the window and embed itself into the wall, a piece of parchment rolled downwards. Shan Qu skimmed it's contents briefly.

"BOSS"!

* * *

Footnote: _This chapter was named as it was because while writing it Fanfiction cut out all the ' Kenji's._

 _Also you might notice that throughout my stories the Jit Kun's backstory changes slightly. This is because different characters have different points of view on what happened, not because of bad writing._


	8. Dinner with the Devil

The land was white and the sky black. The stars twinkled and the moon shone brightly. But sadly the beauty of the earth is never noticed.

Saras had made an effort to look less like a kit and more like an actual, fully fledged field agent. Seeing as he was both he had had a pretty hard time doing that. He had cleaned his clothes thoroughly, and had let them dry in the sun, while wearing nothing but a towel for the majority of the day. He had subconsciously decided that he would get more clothes as soon as he could. He had bathed, and scrubbed himself so hard it actually hurt, oh and the water had been soapy and boiling hot. After all of that hassle he was somewhat relieved when he arrived at the location the letter had asked him to come to.

He didn't know much about the criminal underworld, but he knew of the bigger organizations and their leaders. There were the triads, arguably the strongest, headed by a woman who Saras had met once. Her name was Unknown, and following on that Saras knew nothing about her, except that she was bigger, stronger and much scarier than him. Needless to say it had been the worst sixth birthday in recorded history, and of course it had to be his. While the Seekers weren't as numerous as the triads, or as wanted by the Imperial Army, they were arguably the strongest. And their leader was Yang Chao. He heard the way the Bat Cave's council spoke his name. Not even Xiao Xue would say anything negative about him. Shan Qu's father had been in the council for as long as anyone could remember, and the fruit bat had of course filled him in on as much info on Yang Chao as his dad had let slip.

"He killed his dad".

"Yang Chao can kill in one touch."

"He's trying to summon demons".

While some of the things he had heard were utterly ridiculous, Saras knew better than to act above his level. Next to the Seekers the Bat Cave was small fry, or even less than that. He would judge the hare according to what he saw.

He walked slowly up to the manor, where two guards were stationed, apparently unarmed, so as not to attract attention, but Saras could see the knives bulging in their pockets. The kit unrolled the scroll and handed it to one of them, before putting his paws in his pockets, and hoping that he would walk out in one piece. Shan Qu was the only person who knew he was here, it would be all too easy for Yang Chao to make him dissapear.

The guard nodded, and they pushed open the door, Saras gulped and stepped past the threshold, with an audible gulp. There was no going back now. The first thing he saw was Yang Chao. Slightly shorter and stockier than most hares. His fur was pure white, and he wore an excited grin on his face, one that made Saras' heart leap a foot into the air. He wore a pair of loose black pants and a plain black vest along with a bright red kerchief. His eyes were cold and dark and put Saras in mind of mud. He tried to stutter a greeting, but nothing came out.

"I-I-I-I-I-I-I"- His shameful mumbling was cut short by the guard's laughter.

"He's shitting himself over a portrait".

"Oh my god, what a joker".

Saras turned to scowl at them. "And where exactly am I supposed to go"?

"With me." He turned to look at the real Yang Chao. Gulping once again, he stepped forwards.

"H-hi". It was the most stupid thing he had ever said, he would have groaned, but figured it would only make things worse. Who said 'hi' to someone who could kill you with one touch. He can't do that.

How would you know ? Yang Chao tittered eerily. "You two, take our guest to the dining hall. I'll be there in a moment."

The Dining hall was just as egotistic as the rest of the manor. Portraits, paintings, statues, everywhere he turned his head Yang Chao was there. It was an extremely effective creep the shit out of your enemies move. But Saras also felt that somehow Yang Chao was insecure, after all why else would his face be everywhere, unless he was narcissistic of course.

The table was plain old wood, polished so much that Saras could vaguely see his reflection on it's surface. That was also psychologically frightening. It made Saras feel small, and unsure of his own self. A soup bowl was placed in front of him, full to the brim and steaming, with a pair of bright red chopsticks with golden hanzi etched across it. The room was empty, save for himself. It was somewhat rude to eat without waiting for your host to arrive, but he hadn't eaten much that day, and the soup looked more appetizing than the one he had struggled to make that morning. Picking up the chopsticks he began chewing on a piece of tofu.

He heard a chuckle from behind him, the hare stood there, so full of confidence, so sure of himself. Saras gulped, both to get the tofu down and to get rid of his fear.

"As you already know, my name is Yang Chao. I presume one so closely affiliated with the Bat Cave would have heard of me".

"Yeah, I've heard of y-you", he gulped again, though this time he had no tofu to swallow.

"But you on the other hand, are what I like to call, an enigma ? Think fast"! He threw a knife at the kit, who managed to catch it in between his paws, he winced at the sudden pain.

"Nice reflexes." Yang Chao strolled around the table, turned and sat so that he was facing the young fox. "What are you ? A demon ? No, too young. Do you have a Lonesome Gift"?

"A what"? Is this 'gift' what the hare wanted ?

"I'll take that as a no. Hmm, how do you shapeshift"?

"I'm a Jit Kun".

"Oh, that explains it then. Now for my other questions. Why did you attack Tin Zu"?

Oh, that's why he's involved. "Look, I-I didn't want to, but he made me".

"So under threat of torture, you threatened to destroy my thug"? Saras gulped as Yang Chao got up once again, and began edging towards him. Then his voice became somewhat less dangerous. "How's the soup ? Too hot, too cold ? Perfect"?

Saras took another bite. "A bit, cold"?

Yang Chao turned on him with a murderous look. "Chef ! Explain yourself"!

Right, his life depended on what he said next. "Well, er- I didn't mean to." A duck came waddling in, looking like he was going to piss himself. "It's just when the gibbon came he forced it out of me".The hare reached out to touch the avian and caught him by the sleeve,suddenly the bird began choking up. I'm sorry I uh-" The waterfowl's eyes rolled up, and then he collapsed. Saras' eyes widened, and he found himself frozen in fear, hos words stuck in his throat and were forgotten. The fox felt his heart knock against his ribs, he was sure the hare could hear it beating away, what with his large ears and all. Yang Chao turned back to the kit, muttering about how he would need a new chef. Saras gulped, he would have left the hall, then and there, but the entrance expanded and in strolled Tin Zu. The gorilla had been huge sitting down. Now that he was standing, the ape was the size of a gorilla and a half. Saras gulped.

"Oh good, you're both here now. My final judgement is this. Tin Zu, you no longer owe me anything, but the vodka barrels are mine." He turned to Saras. "You're not getting payed anything, and you now owe me one hundred and fifty yuan. I think that's fair considering all the damage you've done. Both to him, and to me. Do I make myself clear"?

Tin Zu looked more smug than anything anyone had ever seen. Saras felt so much anger from the injustice of it all, but after having seen the servant's fate, he decided not to argue.

"I'll take that as a yes. Now the pair of you can scram, I've got some things I have to take care of".

Saras would have fought, but fear checked his anger, and he was forced to accept his fate. He left, muttering curses, only to find Yang Chao staring into his face. He screamed and leapt a foot in the air, before realizing a statue had just scared the life out of him. He could hear Tin Zu laughing and Yang Chao chuckling behind him, but kept some dignity and walked off.

He left, trying to formulate a plan. There was no way, whatsoever he was going to pay that son of a bitch. But, how was he supposed to get away with it ?


	9. SNOWBALL FIGHT!

Saras sat under a lonely, naked tree, whose branches hung low under the weight of snow. It was midday and the sun was shining brightly, making the pure white snow glisten and glitter. Saras however did not give a chopstick about the weather. All he cared about right now was dealing with the situation.

He had to pay Yang Chao a hundred and fifty yuan, or else bring the Seekers down upon him. He didn't really have a time limit, but he guessed that it would be wise to pay everything _before_ the hare found out that he had Tin Zu's son. There was no point running away either, sure it would spare the Bat Cave, but the Seekers had bases mostly everywhere, and hiding from them would be nigh impossible. Unless he chose to flee the country. But he would need close to one hundred and fifty yuan to do that, and he owed the hare the same amount of money... so that was pointless. He got up and started pacing. He couldn't get Aang involved, because...

 _The hare reached out and caught the bat by the throat, Aang's eyes rolled upwards as the mammal began choking. A moment later he was dead_.

Saras threw one of his knives at the tree, the blade quivered as the fox breathed heavily. No, he was not going to watch Aang the knife he sheathed it. Then the tree trunk took the shape of Lao Pi's face. "This is all your fault ! You stupid fat gibbon"! He punched the tree, then shook his paw as spasms of pain coursed through it. He sat down and began pouting a small shadow fell upon him.

"For one so young you have a lot of anger to a poor tree that has done nothing to you, Saras kun".

Saras looked up. "It's you".

"Who else could it be"?

Saras decided to take out his anger over the whole unfair situation he was in on Danzaburo. "What do you even want anyways ?! This whole time you're just following me around like a creep. Then you're trying to say that you're being honest to me, despite the fact that you won't even tell me why you're even in this country"!

Danzaburo sat down next to him. "You're very observant", the tanuki complemented, testing the fox's patience.

"I'm observant enough to tell that you're ignoring the question ! _Again_ "!

Danzaburo looked the fox over, for the hundredth time that mission. He was slightly hunched, probably due to having to bear the weight of responsibility on shoulders far too young for that burden. His tail was swishing from side to side, which showed that he had a lot of energy stored inside him. Then the serious look on his face showed that he was focusing too much on something. All work and no play was unhealthy, which is why Danzaburo tended to combine the both. This balancing act was something the younger shapeshifter needed to learn. Danzaburo got up and walked away.

Inwardly Saras sighed with relief. _Finally, I can focus_.

Then a snowball crashed into the side of his face. He turned his face to the direction it came from. "Hey ! You son of a"- another snowball flew through the air and caught Saras in the mouth.

"Saras kun, you were faster the last time we fought. I was expecting a challenge. I don't like being disappointed.

"I'll show you disappointed"! Saras got up, the desire to prove himself burned his skin.

Saras ducked under the next snowball and slid behind the tree, he slipped on the snow and landed on his tail, but thankfully the tanuki had not seen that. The fox rolled a ball of snow and threw it around the tree, before ducking back behind it. A moment later he poked his head out to see whether it had landed, only to receive another face-full of snow. Danzaburo cackled as the fox wiped it away.

 _Game on !_ Saras picked up another lump of snow. Peeping out once again, he teleported.

Danzaburo blinked. The shapeshifter had disappeared in a puff of green. His eyes narrowed. Then he ducked as a snowball flew past where his head had been and spun round to catch the fox square on the muzzle. The force of the throw knocked Saras off his feet, the fox landed right on his tail, again.

"Come on ! You can do better than that Saras kun"!

Saras growled and teleported. Danzaburo stood where he was. Snow flew through the air as a small fast moving underground object raced towards the tanuki. Saras burst through the snow in mole form and threw two snowballs simultaneously, one flew far off target and landed on the ground, whereas the other one crashed right into Danzaburo's face... only for the tanuki to disappear in a puff of smoke. Saras blinked, only for another snowball to crash into the back of his head. He turned in the direction, only for another snowball to crash into his goggles. Wiping away the snow he scoured the ground for his opponent. He stepped forwards cautiously and found that the ground had not been booby-trapped.

On his next step he stood on a tar bomb, which exploded, sending black goo flying everywhere. His face got a nice coating of the sticky substance, but he knew better than to try and wipe it away, that would only get another one of his limbs stuck. Danzaburo threw another snowball, which caught Saras in the back of the head.

 _How does he move so fast ?_

Saras transformed into a dragon. The next snowball was melted midair by a sudden burst of flame. The young shapeshifter smirked confidently as the steam cleared. Only for two more snowballs to catch him off guard.

Saras teleported to where Danzaburo was standing, and kicked up a bunch of snow, the tanuki ducked it, the snow sailed over his head and landed behind him. Saras had no time to react as Danzaburo kicked another leg-full of snow into his face.

Saras wiped it away with a paw, only to remember that snow wasn't the only thing stuck to his face. He tried to pull his paw away only to find tar had stuck the appendage to his cheek.

Danzaburo laughed from where he was standing. Somehow the tanuki had ended up next to the tree.

"You have much to learn Saras kun, lesson one, never forget any detail that may be important."

Saras scowled.

"Lesson two, don't use up most of your tricks in the first fight, or you'll loose the next one".

Saras looked at the tanuki with a deadpan expression.

"Lesson number three"-

Saras teleported forwards, picked up a snowball and hurled it with all his might. Danzaburo ducked, and let it to hit the tree.

"Lear how to aim strai"-, unfortunately for Danzaburo the snowball had shook the tree, which had reacted by dropping down a hell-of-a-lot of snow upon the tanuki.

The Japanese spy pulled himself out of the pile, and shook the snow off of him.

"Well played Saras san, well played."

Saras stood in front of him, beaming, his tail wagging like a happy puppy. Danzaburo couldn't help smiling. He had managed to get rid of the shapeshifter's stress, mission accomplished. The fox was standing a bit straighter, he looked happy, and for the first time since the mission had started Danzaburo saw the kit in Saras.

"Now, how about we head back to Kenji's place and dry up"? Saras nodded, and the two walked off together. Danzaburo couldn't help feeling a bit of pride, the young shapeshifter had managed to outsmart him, in the end. Sure he hadn't exactly won, but with time he could become something great. Saras, however was back in his world of worries. However, he had thought of a scheme. He couldn't do anything to Yang Chao, or the Seekers, but Tin Zu was a whole other matter.


	10. Sushi

Tin Zu was enjoying himself for the first time in a long time. He hadn't had so much luck in a long time. He had been worried that Saras would snake on him and Yang Chao would be beating the piss out of him. He couldn't help feeling a bit of sympathy for the fox, who was now pinned under Yang Chao's thumb, or whatever rabbits had in place of thumbs. All Saras had done was sell vodka to him. Then Tin Zu had gone and blamed the kit for attacking the gorilla's gang. Tin Zu had no idea what Yang Chao had told the fox over diner, or vice versa, but thankfully, somehow the fox had managed to twist the blame towards himself. _Too stupid for this kind of life_. That seemed to describe the fox, somewhat accurately.

There was a knock on the door, and Fenghuang entered, looking like someone had just pulled off all her tail feathers.

"Fenghaung, you look...pissed off".

"I think that's a very accurate description, sir."

"What is it"? The big gorilla sighed, and to think he had been happy a few sentences before.

"It's"- she looked around the room, before closing the door tightly. "The shapeshifter." She whispered.

"Don't be ridiculous. He's of no danger now, he's turned the knife on himself and he's the one that now owes Yang Chao, _not_ me. As far as I'm concerned all this business with the hare is done and dusted.

"Not the vodka seller, the other shapeshifter".

"There's two of them"?

Fenghuang sighed. "I have received intelligence that an elite Japanese spy has come to Gongmen City. He is meant to be their best. The Spy of a Thousand Scents, or something."

"If he's that smelly wouldn't that make him incredibly easy to track down"? Tin Zu asked sarcastically, extremely bored by his subordinate's exaggeration of something completely and utterly unimportant. "Honestly Fenghaung, I don't know where you get your gossip, and I don't want to know. As far as you are concerned we need not worry about another shapeshifter ever again."

"But boss, this could be huge. Why would someone be spying on Gongmen, nothing interesting ever happens here."

"Except for a large portion of China's trade", was Tin Zu's reply.

"Sir ! I think he's spying on Yang Chao"!

Tin Zu began laughing. "Fenghaung, relax. Yang Chao can look after himself well enough, and so can I ! Now forget all this spy stuff and go check on the vodka or something"!

"Sir"-

"That's an order"!

The owl relented, bowed out and turned away.

* * *

"What the hell is sushi"? Was the first question Saras asked after Danzaburo had placed their order at a Japanese restaurant. The look on Danzaburo's face seemed to be of genuine confusion.

"You have never tried sushi before"? The tanuki gasped, so loudly that a few heads ( with faces of similar befuddlement ) turned to stare.

"I don't know what it is", Saras elaborated, going pink from the embarrassment. _Why am I embarrassed ? It's not like sushi's the meaning of life_.

However the look Danzaburo was gave him during the tanuki's explanation of sushi said the exact opposite. "Sushi, is the essence of Japanese cuisine. It's like your noodles. If you got to a house in China you will see that everyone has a different way of cooking noodles, the same goes for sushi. Sushi is"-

Saras was saved from the long, boring monologue by the waiter's timely arrival, with two plates pilled with heaps and heaps of sliced rolls of-

"It looks like rice to me".

" _Jigoku ni iku_ "! One customer yelled.

" _Hajiwoshire_ "! The waiter exclaimed, anger rising visibly through his features.

" _Heiwa_ "! Danzaburo shouted over the crowd of voices. "The boy is young. He has not tried it yet. Let him breathe and maybe he will learn."

Saras blinked. He had only understood Danzaburo's last three sentences. As confused as a crow in a cornfield, Saras waited until the muttering heads turned back to their own meals. "Right. Translation, please".

"You don't want to know. Just eat the sushi". Danzaburo said simply.

Saras took one mouthful and soon learned that he would never again in his entire life for as long as he lived try sushi. It was like filth, to him at least. It was all slimy and sticky and sour and bitter and vinegar-ey. He spat it out. "This is"- Every face in the restaurant turned on him. "So good tasting, it's amazing", forcing himself to not get mauled by a room full of sushi lovers Saras took two and plopped them in his mouth. He put up the universal 'claws up of appreciation' as he struggled to look like he was enjoying the garbage he had forced himself to eat. He swallowed, and forced himself to grin.

Danzaburo chuckled. The tanuki picked up a sushi and put it in his mouth only to spit it back out."This is garbage." The tanuki stood up and glared at the waiter. " You _kuso_ , you have no right to cook sushi. You _butchered_ the spirit of Japanese cuisine"! Genuinely angry the tanuki threw the pile of sushi onto the ground and grabbed Saras by the wrist. "We're leaving"!

* * *

Two minutes later, Danzaburo had calmed down somewhat. "When we go to Japan, I will take you to real sushi. I promise you that, Saras san".

Saras blinked. Then something clicked somewhere in his brain. "When exactly, are we going to Japan"? He asked innocently. "Because you didn't mention that before"!

"Uh", Danzaburo almost face palmed. He was very not on point today. Or rather this entire mission.

"I get it now. You're trying to kidnap me"! The look on the tanuki's face told Saras that he was wrong. "Okay, that might have been, a bit stupid."

Danzaburo sighed. Honesty was meant to be the best policy, right ? "Saras san, I'm meant to bring you to the Daimyo. He believes your abilities may be... useful to him."

Something else in his brain clicked into place. "The Daimyo ! You mean the guy who wiped out your entire clan ! You're working for him !" Saras blinked several times.

Danzaburo slapped him, hard. It hurt, and left a stinging sensation on his muzzle. "It's not like I have a choice"! The tanuki snapped back, hoarsely.

"I'm not going to work for a murderer." Saras said,blinking away tears, genuinely hurt ( not because of the slap, but rather because he had been warming up to the tanuki up until then, only to realize that Danzaburo was a traitor to his own kind). The kit slowly turned and walked away.

Danzaburo was left standing there, blinking confusion away. Saras wasn't coming with him. He had been rejected. He had failed. He felt an invisible weight press against his chest. And to think he had been warming up to the kit. The tanuki turned slowly and walked away in the opposite direction.


	11. Many Failed Attempts At Entrance

Saras stared at the gates in front of him. He gulped. This was a really big risk. A really, really big risk. Yang Chao wanted his fur for snaking on Tin Zu to Lao Pi. He wasn't sure how the hare would react if he found out Saras was now telling on hi to the Masters Council. Saras couldn't help feeling a bit nervous. Like most kids in China he had grown up hearing stories of these powerful warriors. But Aang had never been too keen on the Masters Council. Sure they had helped stopped the war. But every memory Saras had in connection with them was the fact that they had stopped the war too late for the Jit Kun and Piaoliang in general. Still. They were awesome. Master Croc, with him impenetrable hide, Saras had tried that technique out once...he had had that needle stuck in his backside for nearly two weeks... Master Storming Ox with his laser-like detection skills. Well to be honest Saras found that pretty lame. And best for last, Master Thundering Rhino. The son of a rhino who was supposed to leap so high in the air he was practically flying. Someone who's Fancy-Named-Deflection Technique had yet to be bested. He tapped his claws together nervously, and patted the fur on his head down...only for it to return to it's normal state of fuzzy-ness. Oh well, he had to do what had to be done.

He walked up the steps to where the door was guarded by a troop of gazelle. The mammals all stood stock still in line. Saras looked from one to the other. They all stood about as still as trees on a day with no wind. All except their eyes, which followed him with curiosity, mixed with suspicion. Saras walked straight towards the gate handles. Even from behind the great wooden doors he could hear the sound of sparring taking place across them. He reached out a paw to pull the gates open, only for the gazelle to finally address him.

"Kid, shouldn't you be in school"?

"No"! Saras replied too quickly, realizing his mistake he tried to backtrack. "I mean, yes, no, I- I am meant to be here. I mean there."

The line of gazelle broke into laughs at his explanation. "Kid, go back to school."

Saras scowled and turned around. He wasn't done yet. One failure, nine more chances.

* * *

Danzaburo sat in meditation. It had given him answers many times throughout his life. But right now the answer was pissing him off.

The answer was to kill the fox. He knew too much, had seen too much, and even if he himself was not exactly a threat, someone could easily use him to create a threat, both to him and the Daimyo. It wouldn't take much. Just one quick slice to the heart. It would be practically painless. Except the look on the kit's face. That would be painful. Danza got up and stopped his meditation. He pulled out his katana and slammed it down upon the sole candle that lit the room. The wax split down into two lines...but the fire refused to go out, and now they became two separate entities. Danzaburo then put the fire out with one wave of his hand.

The kit had done very little.

He had done nothing.

So why did he feel so torn over doing something he was familiar with ?

All they had done was play a kid's game...and shared emotional backstories...and gone for sushi...and nearly fought each other to the death...and then let each other go. Then there was the fact that Saras san was a child. Only fourteen. At fourteen Danza had been a proper child, drumming on his little pot belly like the other kids. Then they were both shapeshifters. How many shapeshifters were there left in the world ? Surely this connection counted for something ?

Danzaburo stabbed at the wall. It would be easy to do...but he couldn't do it...but he had to.

* * *

Saras gave up on the tenth try. He had exhausted all his forms. The guards would not let him see the Masters Council. It made no difference, whether or not he was supposedly a hedgehog from the Imperial Army, a poor armadillo who had lost his mother. They had sent away a dragon, for the Yellow Emperor's sake, with words like "nice costume" or "save it for the festival kid". He had tried flying over the gates, twice, he had nearly been shot down as a crane, and had crashed into the wall as a hummingbird. He had turned into a catfish and pretended to burn in the sun, only to be kicked into one of Gongmen's icy canals. He had attempted to bury under the walls of the Tower. That of course had made him dig into a solid wall. Apparently the Tower of Sacred Flame took it's security very seriously. His bruised nose, however, wasn't too keen on the tight security. He had been flung away as a mouse, probably because he had underestimated their eyesight- then again his bright pink tail did stand out a lot. As a platypus he had walked up the steps, only to turn around again. There was nothing he could do to get in.

He didn't doubt that if he tried he could beat the fur off of those idiotic excuses for mammals. He sighed, why was life so complicated ? Well, he still had one more trick up his sleeve. He had Tin Zu Junior, and if the guards thought he was joking when he whipped out the son of a mobster...well then they didn't deserve to do their job. He also had Shan Qu, who Tin Zu and his gang didn't know by sight. A plan began forming in his head, a plan that really wasn't good enough to pull off yet. But he hated wasting time in general, and this time it was serious business. Tin Zu was going to get his justice handed to him, and if things went well Saras was going to get his cash handed to him...so he could hand it back to Yang Chao of course.

He smirked confidently. When the guards changed shift, then he would begin. But first he had to get Shan Qu, the toddler and a collar. Rubbing his paws to keep the cold away he turned and left.

Only for the gates to open up and the Master's Council to come out. Laughing and slapping each other on the back, looking less like Kung Fu Masters, and more like a bunch of bachelors.

Saras' jaw dropped, he had spent hours trying to get in, only for the people he needed to see to stroll right out. He blinked, then let his jaw close again. Right, now he could go somewhere. He took a step towards the approaching trio.

* * *

Danzaburo walked slowly out of his room, his face fixed in a mask of no emotions. He pulled his hat on over his eyes, and closed the door behind him. He would not be coming back to this room.

He had a job to do.


	12. Cut to the Chase

He took a step towards the approaching trio. And promptly fell on his face, having tripped on his own cloak. He got up, and dusted himself, before searching out the Masters Council, who had somehow ended up behind him. He grabbed a wanted poster with Tin Zu's face on it, which just so happened to be next to his paw. Hopefully it would help with his explanation.

"Hey"! Saras called out to the trio. The masters turned to see the fox now scampering towards them. Saras stopped in his tracks when they started staring. His jaw suddenly became slack and his throat made no noise. Their action figures really did not do them justice. "Uh, I uh, I." He held up the wanted poster and tried to explain by poking a paw at it...but he held it on the wrong side, so all the Masters Council saw was an empty sheet.

"Oh I get it", Ox said.

"You do"? Saras said, his surprise overcoming his awe and inability to form words.

Ox grabbed the sheet from him. "Allow me." The bovine lifted the parchment and signed it, with a quill handed to him by Rhino and an ink jar handed to him by Croc. Saras stared at the smug look on Tin Zu's face that was just visible on the parchment as the masters all took it in turn to sign it, before returning it to him.

"There ya go son", Rhino said, patting him on the head, before the three masters turned and walked off.

Saras was left blinking. He would have scrunched up the paper but decided it was better not to throw away the Masters Council's autographs. _Okay, time to go back to scheming_.

* * *

"Fans these days. You can't even go out on a regular patrol without a hundred of them swarming on you". Croc was saying as the Masters Council made their way back to the Tower of Sacred Flame through the now deserted night time streets.

"Yeah, no kidding. I think I wasted a whole jar of ink signing my name." Ox agreed, rubbing an aching back, that had been pounced upon by a swarm of bunny children.

"Guys, what did you expect ? The Winter Feast is coming up, people are flocking to Gongmen. Naturally some of them are going to be fans". Rhino explained, ever the patient one.

"Yeah, that doesn't mean that they have to attempt to pull off every fur on your tail." Ox retorted.

"Or keep your teeth as a souvenir." Croc added.

"Different people have different understandings of personal space". The rhino argued feebly. His comrades both gave him a look. "Okay, okay, fine. So some fans are weird. It's not like we shouldn't be used to this by now."

Their conversation was brought to an end by a loud, high-pitched cry. "Oi, ya bloody mugs"!

The trio turned around to look at a bat, holding a leash around a baby gorilla. One that had recently gone missing from the Tower of Sacred Flames.

Saras watched from afar, and couldn't help but facepalm. He had specifically told Shan Qu to _not_ use _that_ accent.

"Ya wanna piece of me ?! Well the only piece ya wankers are gonna get is my willy up ya bums".

The cringe Saras felt made his fur tingle and his stomach churn.

The masters stared at one another. "Kid, hand over the baby", Croc spoke reasonably. But of course _that_ wasn't part of the plan.

"Don't fucking tell me what to do. Who do ya think ya are ? Ya skinny little lizard."

"Hey"! Ox shouted, defending his friend from further insult.

"And who are ya anyways ? Ya can't even get out the bed in the bed in the morning without fucking falling on ya fat ass." Shan Qu replied, now turning on the bovine.

"Say that one more time"! Ox dared.

"Ox, calm down. He's a minor." Rhino tried to pacify him.

"Go ahead and suck me, ya bloody pussy"!

"He's a dead minor"! Ox attempted to charge the bat, but Rhino grabbed him by the elbow and held him back. Rhino, however, did not have enough limbs to stop Croc from dashing towards the fruit bat and whacking him across the chest with a powerful swipe of his tail, which sent the small mammal flying. Shan Qu, however, was stubborn enough to not let go of the leash, which pulled Tin Zu Junior with him, and right into Croc's legs, knocking over the reptile.

Shan Qu rose from the ground. The blow had hurt _a lot_. But he knew better than to show it. "And finally you. Ya great big ugly gorilla of a rhino. Fucking carving shit into ya own horn. No wonder ya dad don't like ya".

The bat had struck a nerve. And had potentially bitten off more than he could chew. Rhino let Ox charge towards Shan Qu, who turned tails and ran as fast as his little feet could carry him. He would have flown, but that would have made holding onto Tin Zu Junior nigh impossible. In truth Ox would have caught up to him pretty quickly, if not for the baby gorilla. Tin Zu's son had enjoyed the feeling of ploughing into Croc's feet, and running around was what kids did best. So it was only natural that after watching two mammals begin to move their feet, the youngster would mimic their actions. And improve upon them. Gorillas as a species might not seem fast, but in fact are pretty speedy. They do weigh a lot, but a toddler like Tin Zu Junior, lacked this deficiency, and outrunning Shan Qu proved to not be incredibly difficult. Outrunning the Master's Council, however, was a challenge. And all little kids loved a good old challenge.

Saras watched as the three burly animals, who were all fast in their own right, raced after one little bat being dragged by an over-excited baby gorilla, who thought this was all some sort of fun game. The fox dragged his paw over his face and muzzle. Well, things could have gone worse. At least they were moving.

* * *

Saras couldn't believe his luck. Somehow Tin Zu Junior had against all odds manage to outrun the Masters Council, but he had brought them right back to Tin Zu's new base. Evidently the baby gorilla had been taught how to find his way back home. Saras would have pitied Tin Zu more, but as far as he was concerned the ape deserved it. Shan Qu had been knocked out due to a collision with several objects. Tin Zu Junior had fallen asleep, tired from lack of energy and the cold. Croc was looking after the pair of them, while Ox and Rhino were busy storming the house. Saras himself was watching this from a safe distance away, sitting cross-legged under a tree, who's branches slumped from the weight of the snow, much like they had when he had fought Danzaburo, only this time Saras was pretty sure the snow had tripled in size.

Any second now Tin Zu would come out the building, ready for Gongmen's Jail. Any second. Saras impatiently tapped the snow with his Talon Claw. The gorilla really should have been arrested by now.

"Waiting sucks, don't it"? He heard a voice behind him.

"Yeah", he replied absentmindedly. Then he spun around, his eyes widening as a snowy white hare leapt onto him. The force of the impact pushed Saras onto his back, Yang Chao dropped a kick onto the vulpine's unprotected nose, before getting off the fox.

"Dear Kanbujian. There is a reason I am good at my job. And it is because I do not allow people to bring down any part of my organization. One piece less in a puzzle leaves a big gap."

Saras was lifted above the ground by the strong, sure hands of Tin Zu. The vulpine gulped, his nose bloody, his heart pounding. Yang Chao punched him right across the muzzle.

"However, you _aren't_ a piece in the puzzle. Getting rid of you _won't_ leave a gap in anyone's puzzle." Yang Chao slammed his fist right into Saras' left eye.

Tin Zu tightened his grip around Saras, squeezing the air out of him. Yang Chao punched him again, this time in the belly. The wind was knocked out of Saras, and Yang Chao ended with a powerful roundhouse kick that sent Saras flying from Tin Zu's grip and into the air. The hare jumped up after him, kicked him in the gut, before slamming both his feet down onto his head, sending him crashing back down into the snow. The hare landed next to him. Saras tried to lift himself up, his left eye lid twitched and his right eye found themselves staring into Yang Chao's far more sinister pair.

"This is why little fish stay in the pond. I'll let you rethink your life for about five minutes...or however long it takes for Fenghuang to kill you. I'd end you myself, but I have a schedule. See you, well never again anyways." Yang Chao turned around and left Saras lying in the snow, the cold threatening to overtake him. Tin Zu joined the hare and the pair of them walked away. Saras let his face lie in the soft snow.

Then he remembered what Yang Chao had said about his life span, and turned around to see an owl dive-bombing him. His eyes widened, then narrowed. He was not going to get bullied by Tin Zu and his second rate thugs. Saras waited for the last second to teleport, allowing Fenghuang to crash into the snow, talons first.

Saras appeared behind her and drew one of his long daggers. For once he had come prepared. He took a step forwards, but the crunch of the snow revealed his position to the owl. Fenghuang turned around and threw three knives from her wing. Saras deflected two, and ducked under the third. He looked back up to see another knife coming his way. He put up his dagger again, which blocked the final knife mid air, and allowed the last one to fall onto the snow. He looked up, only to see Fenghuang's metal talons flying towards his face. He had no time to raise the blade as it came closer. Saras ducked, but found his throat in the hold of the owl's other talon. Fenghuang threw the kit down onto his back, and threw another knife out from her wing. The blade missed by an inch only because Saras twisted his head in the last second. Saras teleported in a puff of green. Fenghuang turned and threw a knife behind her, expecting it to land in the shapeshifter. It sailed through the air, but struck no shapeshifter. Her large eyes narrowed, as she turned in a circle. He was nowhere to be seen.

Of course, she had forgotten to look up.

A hummingbird darted at her head, slamming into it with the speed of an arrow, before flying away and darting back to crash into her chest. Saras continued to pelt her in his small form from all angles. She kept on turning around helplessly, incapable of moving at the same speeds as the bird. He hit her in the leg, both wings, the back twice and was about to fly into her head again when Fenghuang opened her wings and blew a strong gust of wind, which stopped the small bird mid-swoop, and allowed Fenghuang to slam a wing against his side. Saras crashed into a heap of snow. Fenghuang watched as the crater he had made suddenly flashed green. A mouse was now standing on the owl's shoulder.

"What the"- His long, bright-pink, whip-like tail slammed into her face. The owl tried to slap him away, but only ended up hitting herself, Saras promptly whipped her across the back. The third time he tried to whip her she managed to catch him in her wings. "Gotcha"!

"No you don't". Saras promptly bit into her feathers with his large buck-teeth. Fenghuang let go of him, and sent him flying backwards, only for him to transform into an armadillo, and land safely, skidding across the snow with his Talon Claws.

"You, can't beat me. You're a child. This is"-

Saras curled up into a ball and rolled full speed towards her, slamming into her gut like a cannon. The attack knocked the wind out of her and sent her sprawling onto her back, under the same tree Saras had started at. "You talk too much".

"Why you insolent little"- she sent three knives flying his way. Saras shifted into a fox, and ducked under one, sidestepped the other, and leapt over the third. She flicked her wing once more, expecting to see more of her blades flying to meet him, only to notice that she was all out. "What the"-

"Looking for these"? Saras held up two strings, lined on which were rows and rows of feather-shaped throwing knives.

"How did you"- Her eyes widened as Saras dropped both strings, and picked up a small ball of snow.

"It was simple. While you were trying to strangle me I noticed how you held your knives on a string across your wings. While you were busy getting pelted I was cutting all the ropes, via my beak. When you finally managed to send me into the snow, I already had two of your ropes sliced and all your knives were mine for the taking. A bit of distraction later and I managed to get you a safe distance away for you to realize your mistake, without trying to kill me". He held up a perfectly round snowball.

Fenghuang got to her feet. "So you got lucky. I have killed people without those knives you know. Time to add to the list".

"I don't think so". Saras hurled the snowball with all his strength, Fenghuang ducked dutifully.

"Missed",she said smugly, only for a ton of snow to come crashing down on her, and bury her in white.

"Like I said. I don't think so." Saras turned away from her. Yang Chao's tracks had faded clean away. But Tin Zu, no the gorilla's footprints were about as clear as the snow they were in. Saras' eyes narrowed. He really couldn't care less at this point. The gorilla was going down, as for Yang Chao, well all he had to do was not get touched.

Saras teleported forwards, to where the next line of footprints were. Then teleported forwards again, then a third time. Soon all that could be seen was a line of footprints and a regular puff of green.

* * *

Fenghuang dug herself out of the snow a short while later. Well she had dug her head out anyways, the rest of her body was compressed under all the weight the snow possessed, but at least she could breathe.

"Well, well, well. Fenghuang. Tin Zu's second in command. Looks like good old mother nature managed to catch up to you". Ox's voice broke into a laugh. "Honestly though, you practically arrested yourself. Hey, Croc, Rhino, look what I found here ! Turns out this wasn't a wild goose chase !"

Fenghuang's eyes widened as the Masters Council walked over, Rhino cradling the sleeping Tin Zu Junior and Croc holding a young bat who's eyes were rolling and spoke random words strung together.

* * *

The tracks were as clear as day to one as skilled as Danzaburo Danaki. There were three people traveling towards the cliffs. One possessed feet as big as the tanuki himself, the shapeshifter recognized this as the footprints of a gorilla. The next was smaller, this one was harder to tell, snow having already covered some of the tracks. Joining them every few feet were another pair of footprints, this one more noticeable than the others. The tracks didn't look like they belonged to any species, but were made of something Danzaburo had become somewhat familiar with. Talon Claws.

The tanuki walked at a standard pace. He had a purpose. But for once he wasn't sure whether he could do it.


	13. The Battle Under Barrels

The cavern was a labyrinth, one made up entirely out of barrels and crates. Danzaburo didn't know what was in them, but he could clearly see from the ice that lined the brims that it was something liquid. He slid his finger across the ice, and put it in his mouth. He could tell from the burning sensation he felt that it was some kind of alcohol, an incredibly strong brand of it as well. The tanuki spat it out, the last thing he needed at this point was to get drunk.

The tracks had led him here, but the cavern held no scent but that of cold air, and there were no more tracks to follow. The tanuki scowled and proceeded to walk forwards. He was silent, so as not to make the slightest noise. His job would be easier if they didn't see him coming. Then he turned the corner and bumped into Tin Zu, well, Tin Zu's leg. Danzaburo looked up to see the big gorilla staring down at him, with a look of confusion.

"And you are"?

Danzaburo suddenly leapt up, and landed an uppercut onto the gorilla's chin, sending the big ape reeling. The tanuki landed softly and walked away. He could have no witnesses. Suddenly he found his path blocked by a pair of crates that had not been there before. He turned to see Tin Zu getting up, the gorilla looking incredibly pissed off.

* * *

Saras had lost track of not only Tin Zu, but also of his own way out. He turned a corner to find it was a dead end, piled with crates of vodka. He turned, took another path and found himself staring at another dead end.

"Lost are we"? Came Yang Chao's voice.

This time Saras was concentrating enough to turn around without replying.

"You're alive. That is impressive. And Fenghuang is"?

"Lying under a heap of snow". He replied, getting increasingly nervous as the hare slowly walked towards him.

"And what exactly are you doing here ? You should be glad you got away with your life. Most don't get that." Yang Chao suddenly dashed forwards and pulled Saras' face down, so that they were nose to nose with each other.

"I-I-I-I"-

"Quit your marring, it's not going to help you. I already told you, this is why the little fish stay in the pond."

Saras heart beat faster as he suddenly felt incredibly weak, like his arms were too heavy to lift and his mouth too hard to open. He couldn't do anything, he was practically frozen. Every instinct in him told him to fight back, but he couldn't force himself into it, he couldn't do anything, he was too weak. He was sure that he was about to feel exactly like how the servant had in the last few moment's of his life. He didn't know what to expect. Incredible pain ? A sudden death ? Would it be hot or cold ? Would he have time to feel anything ? Then Yang Chao let him go, and pushed him roughly to the ground.

"But it's no fun. I heard you're a shapeshifter, who knows, if you interest me you might even get yourself a few more years."

Saras got to his feet. He couldn't care less anymore. Let the Seekers come, he was going to kill this bunny or die trying.

The kit started with a claw slash, one that would have scratched a slower hare's cheek open, Yang Chao merely ducked under it and let the fox's claws get stuck into the wood that made the crates.

"Whoopsie, foxie was too slow", Yang Chao mocked.

Saras slashed with his other arm, the hare avoided the blow and let the shapeshifter's claws sink into the wooden crate, his arms crossing over each other, Yang Chao's head inbetween them, away from harm. Saras pulled, trying to get his paws free, instead he brought the crate forwards, tilted at an angle. Yang Chao rolled under it, and appeared on the other side, before leaping onto the crate, and bringing it down on Saras' feet. The kit yelped in pain.

"You don't even count as little fish anymore. You're even more irrelevant than that." Yang Chao said lightly, as if a shapeshifter trying to ineffectively murder him was an everyday occurrence.

* * *

Meanwhile, on the other side of the maze of crates, Danzaburo was faring a lot better. Tin Zu was incredibly intelligent, but the gorilla's short temper was clouding his judgement. Danzaburo called out to the big ape from atop a pile of crates.

"Looking for me"? The tanuki asked innocently, while the ape turned to him. Tin Zu's first charge had ended with him running straight through the illusion that was Danzaburo, and headfirst into a wall. All the other ones had had similar effects.

"Fight fair you sonnofabitch"! Tin Zu charged again, this time Danzaburo noted that the ape slowed down just a little before making contact with him. The tanuki leapt up to avoid the gorilla, before turning into a cat and landing square in Tin Zu's face, his claws outstretched. "Get off me"! The simian tugged at the feline, inadvertently creating the sensation that his face was being ripped off. Eventually he swapped tactics and reeled back to headbutt a crate. Danzaburo leapt off and up, and let the simian's face smash into the wood, which promptly shattered and dowsed him in vodka.

The tanuki laughed a little as he landed, before suddenly sidestepping to avoid a piece of splintered wood that had been launched directly at his face, it missed by an inch, but Danza was ready for the next one, he stopped it by uppercutting the block of wood, which spun mid-air, and followed up by a roundhouse kick which launched the wooden block into Tin Zu's knee. The ape screamed in pain. While it hadn't stuck quite deep it had caught an old wound.

"I expected better from one of your stature. Then again you tall people tend to play the thug." Danzaburo said, his voice dripping with disappointment.

Tin Zu pulled out the wood, even more furious now. He picked up a barrel and rolled it across the ground, Danzaburo leapt over it, only to jump into a crate that had been thrown at him.

"What's the matter ? All out of tricks, are we"? Tin Zu mocked.

"Far from it", Danzaburo corrected, pulling out three leaves, which promptly became a trio of kunai. He held two in paw, and let the third spin on his finger. Tin Zu picked up another crate.

* * *

Yang Chao eventually got tired of watching Saras try and pull free, and decided to play nicely. So he drop kicked the kit and sent him flying back. "Had enough yet ? This can all end when you ask you know"?

Saras chose not to reply. Instead he teleported in a puff of green. Yang Chao spun around, caught the fox's elbow in one paw, and used the other to pull at the kit's cheek, in the kind of way one's grandmother would. "Aaaaaaw, did the liddle baby twy and sneak up on me"? He then slapped the same cheek. "Seriously, don't try that again. It's getting boring."

Saras transformed into a hedgehog and promptly attempted a headbutt, only to receive a knee in his face.

"What did I say about trying to hit me ? You never learn do you ? Well let me spell things out more clearly for you. My name is Yang Chao, every good criminal in China knows my name. Your name is Kanbujian. You. Are. Nothing."

Saras transformed into a dragon, and smashed his jaws shut where Yang Chao's face had been a few moments before. The hare pressed two fingers against the dragon's jaw, pressing it shut, before letting go, and kicking the fox away.

Saras got up and morphed back into a fox. He had a black eye, he was tired, his leg felt funny, and now he was beginning to shiver. "S-so what ? You are just an insecure little bunny"-

Yang Chao burst out laughing. "And the widdle one twied to use logic. Kanbu, why on earth would you think that"?

"Because you have a hundred and fifty statues of yourself in your hallway."

Yang Chao's laughter echoes throughout the cavern...

* * *

...And alerted Danzaburo's excellent hearing to his location. "I'd stay and chat, but I've places to be." The tanuki released one kunai, which missed Tin Zu, but cut deep into the vodka crate he was holding at head level. The alchohol burst through and hit Tin Zu right in the eye, just as Danza followed suite by morphing into a bull, and headbutting the gorilla into a wall. Transforming into an elephant he proceeded to lift the ape by the leg, as if he weighed nothing, and twirled him around effortlessly, before releasing when the ape was parallel to the exit. Tin Zu flew out, just as Danzaburo transformed back into his usual form. "That is why you never sell a creature short." He said, putting away his two, unused kunai.

* * *

"Kanbu, Kanbu. You're not a detective, don't jump to conclusions when you have no evidence to back your case."

While this was genuinely good advice Saras was pissed off at the hare's tone of superiority. Still maybe his other theory would hold some ground. "So you're narcissistic"?

Yang Chao laughed even more, destroying what little confidence Saras had managed to hold onto. The fox lowered his arms, unsure of what to do next, as the hare was still preoccupied with his laughing. Then the hare stopped laughing, and wiped a fake tear away from his eye.

"You should have been a comedian. I'm almost sad that I have to kill you now." Yang Chao kicked a crate at Saras, which the kit leapt over. He landed on what was a crate lid. He looked at Yang Chao with a look of confusion only for an empty crate to fall over and trap him. Yang Chao opened a cask of vodka, and pressed it against the crate's only opening, so that the alcohol could pour freely into the trap. "I'll make you a deal Kanbu. If you can get out of this in one piece, I'll let you go home in one piece."

Saras watched as the crate's floor was already beginning to let the vodka pool, his eyes widened as he suddenly realized the gravity of the situation. Then he remembered that there was nothing particularly dangerous about him drowning, as he could become a fish. And fishes couldn't drown.

"Then again, you'll have to avoid the irony of drowning in your own product."

"Uh, fishes can't drown". Saras' muffled voice called out to him.

"What"? The hare said with what sounded like genuine confusion.

"Well I can transform into a catfish, and fishes can't drown, we're meant to live in water."

Yang Chao kicked the crate open and grabbed Saras by the throat. "I'll just do it the usual way then".

"B-b-but you said that if I got out in one piece"-

"That you would go home in one piece. That don't mean you get home alive, kid."

The feeling of being incredibly weak returned with vengeance, and froze Saras' whole form once again.

"He's not yours to kill", another voice Saras recognized called out to the hare.

Yang Chao dropped the kit, who fell dizzily to his back. "So he's yours isn't he? Let me guess, the whole bloody Bat Cave wants to fight me now"?

Danzaburo smirked. "I'm not with the Bat Cave. And he's mine."

Yang Chao blinked. He had been deceived ? He had not been dealing with the Bat Cave all along? Impossible. Yang Chao entered his stance. The look on his face was murderous.

Danzaburo pulled out the leaf from his mouth, which became a katana. The tanuki smirked a smirk that was brimming with confidence.

Saras sat up and let his back lie against the wall of the cave. His black eye twitched as his other one widened in worry. Danzaburo...I hope you know what you're dealing with.


	14. Boss Battle !

Danza was the first to move, throwing three leaves at Yang Chao. Mid air they became shuriken. Yang Chao's eyes widened, but only a little. The hare deflected each in turn, letting them ricochet harmlessly into the surrounding crates.

"Impressive weaponry," the hare complemented. "How exactly do they work ?" He asked, his tone changing to sound somewhat interested.

Danza smiled even more, simultaneously pulling out a few more leaves. "That's for me to know, and you to wish that you did !" He threw them at his opponent.

Yang Chao deflected shuriken after shuriken as they all sped towards him. He caught one mid-air, and threw it back at his opponent, the tanuki blocked with his katana, before looking up to see the white hare racing towards him. The tanuki entered a stance and waited for Chao to arrive.

Yang Chao got the first swing, which Danza dodged, before retaliating with a jab that would have impaled a slower opponent. Yang Chao, however, sidestepped it as it came towards him, then followed up by leaping over the blade as it came down for his feet. Mid-air the hare aimed a kick, which Danzaburo easily avoided, before rolling under the hare and turning back to face his opponent.

Saras though incredibly weak could not help noting that neither of them had broken so much as a sweat. I wonder...will I be like that when I'm older ?

Then the fighting continued. Yang Chao charged forwards and swung low for Danza's gut, the tanuki, however managed to catch the punch on the flat side of his blade.

"You're fast," the hare noted.

"Well spotted ". The tanuki replied sarcastically.

Yang Chao punched again, Danza blocked with his katana again. The hare kicked, Danza's katana blocked.

"Is this getting a bit repetitive ?"

"Yes, yes it is".

To make things more interesting Yang Chao leapt up, and aimed a roundhouse kick, mid air, which Danza ducked under, before swinging for the hare's waist with his katana. Yang Chao twisted away from it, before landing on all fours. To play safe, Danzaburo had put some distance between them.

Yang Chao charged again, before stopping before a large pile of leaves.

"Am I meant to fall for this ?" The hare asked, looking slightly annoyed at what he thought was an opponent underestimating him.

Danzaburo shrugged. "I didn't have much time".

Yang Chao leapt over the pile of leaves, as if it was as simple as that. Danzaburo suddenly darted forwards, swinging his blade to catch the hare across the neck. Yang Chao ducked, and pulled his ears down low as well. Having been distracted by the katana, however he never saw the tanuki's knee coming for his face. He only noticed when it was too late to block. Yang Chao was sent backwards, and landed on his back...right on the pile of leaves.

As soon as the hare made contact they became a pile of caltrops, and while they didn't go in as deep as they might have they still stung a lot. Enough to seriously piss off Yang Chao.

The hare rolled back to his feet, to avoid the katana Danzaburo had swung on a downward arc that would have sliced a lesser opponent in two. Yang Chao got to his feet, only to duck suddenly as another leaf flew towards his head.

Saras was unfortunate enough to not be able to move out of the way in time. The leaf connected with his head just as it turned into tar. He pulled the substance off of his eyes, only to note that both his paws were now stuck to his cheek, his eyes however could see quite clearly, and glared at Danzaburo.

"Nice shot," Yang Chao complemented, though neither shapeshifter was sure as to whether or not he was being serious.

The fighting continued when Danza charged forwards, intent on ending the fight. Yang Chao steadied himself, remaining in position. When the tanuki's katana came too close he pivoted on his feet, letting the blade sink into a crate that was behind him. He then kicked Danzaburo.

If the blow had landed properly the tanuki would have died, however the Japanese spy had managed to avoid a full connection, receiving only a glancing blow. One that sent him flying into another pile of crates. Saras winced, knowing full well that the blow had hurt a lot.

Yang Chao waited for Danza to get back to his feet. He tapped his foot against the ground. "I'm waiting," he drawled, sounding incredibly annoyed that the shapeshifter was taking this long to get back to his feet. Suddenly the room filled with smoke, and the hare hastily pulled the katana out of the crate.

Then Tin Zu's head popped out of the pile of crates Danzaburo had disappeared behind, holding the form of Danzaburo by the tail. The smoke vanished instantly, and he held him by the tail. The raccoon's limp form showed no signs of life.

If Saras could scream, he would have, but the tar prevented him from doing so.

"Sir are you okay ? This little guy was doing all sorts of creepy shit with some leaves. I barely saw anything."

"I'm fine Tin Zu. What did you do to him ?"

The gorilla's face spread into a grin. "Snapped his neck, the lil' guy never saw it coming."

"Huh ? And I suppose you want to do the same with the fox ?"

"He's wronged me more than you boss".

"Very well, get it over with." The hare waved it away, as if it was nothing.

Tin Zu picked up Saras, and plunged his fat fingers down the fox's eyes. If he could scream, he would have. Blood spurted as the kit struggled hopelessly. Then with a final cruel squirt the kit stopped squirming and fell limp.

"Huh, how very anticlimactic. I expected some big ass fight scene."

"Should I get rid of these sir ?" The gorilla asked.

"No, leave them hanging in my room so I can jerk off over them", Yang Chao replied sarcastically, somewhat pissed that he had been robbed of an epic battle.

Tin Zu blinked dumbly, as if he hadn't understood what his boss had meant.

"Of course you get rid of them !" Yang Chao replied, almost ready to snap.

The gorilla nodded and walked off.

"Waaaaait a minute !" The hare began laughing, maniacally. "Nice try, but Tin Zu doesn't call me 'sir', the title he uses for me is 'boss'. And Tin Zu already mentioned dealing with a shapeshifter. I've seen the kit fight, the amount of damage he caused, well he didn't cause it did he ? Trash panda !" Yang Chao charged again.

Tin Zu who was actually Danzaburo, threw aside Saras, who was indeed still alive, with eyes that still worked and weren't filled with blood or gorilla finger, and threw the limp form of Danzaburo at Yang Chao, it became a kunai mid-air and sped towards the hare, before assuming his normal form.

Saras landed on his tail, relatively unhurt but still exhausted from Yang Chao's dual use of the Death Touch. Yang Chao deflected the kunai mid air and continued charging. Danzaburo himself got ready. He had wasted a lot of energy creating the whole Tin Zu illusion. I need to get used to doing that. Then there had been the problem of keeping Saras' mouth shut, he had sorted that with the accurately shot tar bomb, then there was the blood, that had been simple, it was a child's trick. And he had almost gotten away with it, he had made only one mistake. Yang Chao was clearly smarter than he had thought. He prepped himself for the coming hare.

Yang Chao leapt up suddenly and spun mid air to avoid two more shuriken, before coming down foot first. Danzaburo managed to move out of the way in the last minute, but it had been a near miss. Neither however so much as paused. Yang Chao swung, Danza ducked, again there had been an inch between his head and the fist. The swing had been powerful as it smashed a barrel, which exploded into splinters of wood and gallons of vodka. Yang Chao spun around and caught Danza on the chest with a backhand. Slightly winded he got no respite as Yang Chao punched again, smashing another barrel of vodka. Danzaburo kicked the hare in the knee, in an attempt to put some distance between him and the hare, before throwing two more leaves at Yang Chao. He caught them both mid air, only for a small cloud of smoke to erupt from his paw, evidently he had caught two smoke bombs. Hissing slightly from the stinging feeling the minute explosion had left Yang Chao picked up a crate, as if it weighed nothing, which was impressive considering it was bigger than him. Lifting it above his head he glared at Danza.

"You've had your fun raccoon. But play time's over !" He threw it straight at Danza.

The tanuki decided not to waste energy replying and merely braced himself for the coming assault. The crate flew right past him as the tanuki became a puff of smoke. The vodka and the wood exploded together, showering splinters across the room.

Yang Chao looked seriously annoyed at this point. He saw Danza out of the corner of his eye, and rushed in with a punch that would have smashed through the tanuki's skull. If it had not been an illusion.

"Very disappointing. I thought you were clever", the tanuki mocked, standing across the hare, next to an equally bewildered Saras.

"Another illusion are we"? Yang Chao approached slowly. "It would be nice to have someone almost as good as me. How would you like to switch sides ?"

"An interesting offer", Danzaburo replied, not showing any emotion. "What's in it for me ?"

Yang Chao seemed to relax a bit. "Your life for one. And we can sort something out for you. But what do you want is a better question."

"I think I'll stay where I am thank you."

Yang Chao shrugged. "Your funeral."Yang Chao charged forwards again. Danzaburo braced himself again. Yang Chao grabbed a sharp piece of splintered wood. Danzaburo threw two more leaves.

Then Yang Chao changed tactics, instead of decapitating the tanuki, he swung for Saras. The sharp stick impaled the fox kit, who would have screamed if he could find his voice. Blood rushed out from the wound and poured onto the wooden splinter.

The hare smirked as he turned to look at Danzaburo. "That wasn't an illusion, was it ?"

The tanuki's fist came out of nowhere, and connected with the hare's chin, sending him reeling. Yang Chao stood up and withdrew the splintered wood from the kit's gut.

Then 'Saras' became a puff of smoke. Danzaburo was now the one wearing the smirk. "Actually, that was the illusion !"

Yang Chao got back to his feet and with a speed he had not displayed before, punched Danzaburo right across the face. He heard the snap of a neck as Danzaburo's head twisted at an impossible angle.

The hare spat on the ground. It didn't take a genius to figure out that it was just another illusion. For some reason he felt ripped off. Sure he had gotten the vodka, which meant that Tin Zu was no longer indebted to him. But he still felt like fate had cheated him. He had been incredibly close to catching not one but two shapeshifters working for someone he really needed to have a conversation with. Yang Chao sighed. Then he felt a migraine incoming and braced himself for more pain than either fight that night had brought him.


	15. Goodbye is Like the Waves

Saras felt somewhat giddy.

He had survived a potentially life-threatening encounter with the scariest known mammal in China, thanks to Danzaburo.

He had shifted the blame off of the Bat Cave, well technically Danzaburo had done that when he told Yang Chao that they weren't from the Bat Cave, which was only half a lie.

He clearly had no reason whatsoever to see that pile of vodka, or pay Yang Chao and Tin Zu back for giving Lao Pi their address.

Sure the Bat Cave as a whole had lost from the whole thing, what with all the vodka 'mysteriously' disappearing, but when he was done telling Aang exactly what he had been through, he was certain his brother would care a bit more about his personal health, rather than a bunch of alcohol.

Currently he was hiding out in Kenji's Place. Kenji was down in the kitchens, muttering about how the place hadn't been left in such a mess. Apparently Danzaburo had lied when he had said that he had been Kenji all along. That didn't matter much considering Danzaburo had single-handedly saved his and the Bat Cave's tails. Right now, as he pulled off the last of the tar, he couldn't feel anything other than joy. Sure the evening had sucked a little, well a lot actually. But he had come out on top.

Danzaburo sat in the corner of the small room. He was trying to concentrate. He had gone out to kill Saras, and had in the process saved him. He sighed inwardly. It had confirmed something he already knew. He couldn't bring himself to end the kit's life. On one paw, it was his duty. But Saras was a kit. A child, and he hadn't wronged him truly. Of course it was normal for him to refuse changing his whole life, with no real reason to. He had friends, family, a master. He couldn't leave all that behind for someone he barely knew. _Even if I did save his life_.

Now as the fox struggled to remove the last bit of tar Danzaburo was reminded yet again of how young he really was. He was a child. The Daimyo's missions were dangerous. Danzaburo could take any form he wanted, Saras had mastered ten. He was inexperienced, and it was really a wonder why any organization would want him in the first place. He _could_ do great things, he had potential. But he couldn't do it _yet_. If he had come to Japan with him, he would never come back alive. And it would have been all Danza's fault. He was reminded somewhat painfully, of all the other tanukis that had been forced to become spies. Some died in the little training they received, others were caught mid-mission, but right now, he was the only one left. It didn't matter how they died, but rather that they did die. And he had been so close to dragging Saras down with them.

When Saras was done with the tar, the kit sat down next to Danzaburo. What followed was silence. Not an awkward silence, but a relaxing one. A silence so sweet and calm one could fall asleep in it. And that's exactly what Saras did as he slipped into a world of dreams. Danzaburo just smiled.

* * *

 _Three days later..._

* * *

Shan Qu walked out of the Tower of Sacred Flames a free bat. It had taken a while for him to convince the Master's Council that he was not in any way, shape or form affiliated with Tin Zu.

True his excuse wasn't the best. He claimed that he had found Tin Zu's infant son all alone one night and brought him to where he was staying, which he conveniently forgot. He had gotten a bit drunk one night, on his way to return the baby to the Master's Council, that had lead him to hurting their pride, and had resulted finally in his capture.

Having no proof that he was lying he was allowed to leave.

The first thing he did was head straight to Kenji's Place. Kenji scowled at him, though he didn't know the reason why. Walking past the angry duck he went upstairs, and found Saras was still alive and well.

"Hey boss ! Did you miss me ?"

"Of course"! Saras lied. "I was worried sick"! In truth he had entirely forgotten about Shan Qu. Then for good measure he added. "Where the hell have you been"?

"The Master's Council arrested me !" He crossed his wings over his chest. "It's not as if I did anything illegal !"

Saras shrugged. "Your fault for getting caught. Anyways Shan Qu it's good that you're back. We're leaving in a bit. Pack anything that belongs to us, when I come back, we leave".

"I just got here"! Shan Qu protested. "Besides, where are you going anyways ?"

"I just need to tie up some loose ends." Saras replied before closing the door behind him.

* * *

The tanuki with his expressionless face sat at the docks.

Danzaburo was preparing to leave. He had a ticket, bought and payed for by a Kabuto Kanji, who didn't exist, straight back to Japan. He was waiting to say sayonara, something he rarely got the opportunity to do in his missions. Normally he left, without even a trace of his existence left behind him. Now, however, he had left a bit of a mess behind.

Saras and maybe Shan Qu knew enough about him to blow his secret into the Imperial Army's face, he doubted they would, but torture was always available. Yang Chao, the leader of the Seekers had nearly killed him, and vice versa. He would have to tread carefully whenever he entered the criminal underworld from now on, especially if the hare was pissed off, which it was very likely he was. Still, if he had nearly beaten the organization's leader, maybe the minions would think twice before trying to get him. Another difference between this mission and most of his other ones, was that he had made a real friend, or at least put his trust in someone other than himself. That was something he had never expected would happen. Still, shapeshifters were meant to be full of surprises. Despite his apparent failure to bring in Saras, he viewed the mission as being successful. He had befriended the young shapeshifter, and had put him out of harm's way. So the Daimyo wouldn't get another spy, big deal. He still had Danzaburo, and should be grateful for that.

Finally Saras arrived, smiling happily. Danzaburo's expression changed from it's expressionless state to show a rare, genuine smile. The kit still had a large ugly bruise around his eye, but was otherwise unharmed.

"You took your time," the tanuki commented.

"I had to deal with Shan Qu. You're not the only one leaving you know". Saras replied, waving away Danza's statement. Saras sat down next to him, before pulling out a small pot. "I made soup."

Danzaburo raised an eyebrow. "You did what ?"

"Well I guess the trip to Japan is gonna be a long boring one, so I figured you'd like some food to pass the time."

"That is very considerate of you. How did you convince to let you into the kitchen ?"

"I didn't." The fox picked up a stone and flung it at the water. It bounced twice, before half-bouncing into the depths of the water. Saras shrugged. "He's already angry enough as it is. Besides, it's better than anything he serves."

Danzaburo picked up a stone and flung it into the water with a strong, sharp flick of his wrist. It bounced eight times before skidding into the ocean. "Huh, if I knew you were going this far, I would have gotten you sushi."

Saras shrugged. "Maybe next time."

Danzaburo took the warm bowls of soup and placed them in small bag. "If you're ever in Japan, feel free to visit."

"Yeah. I guess I will." He said with a far off look on his face.

Danzaburo handed him a leaf. "Consider this my goodbye gift, Saras-san."

The kit's eyes widened in excitement. "What is it ? A katana ? Shuriken ? Tar bom-"

"It's just a regular leaf."

"Is this a joke"?

Danzaburo laughed, throwing the useless leaf into the water, where it floated for a while, before being swallowed up by the swash of the waves. "You know me so well."

Saras stared at the waves, moving backwards and forwards, like the beating of a heart.

"You look lost Saras-san."

"Well it's just that I never see most people I say goodbye to."

"Hmm. The wind blows the waves into the shore, and even though the wave becomes one with the ocean again, eventually the wave meets the shore again."

"Words to live by", Saras complimented.

"I know they are."

The two sat in silence, and watched the waves beat against the docks with their own, mechanical rhythm.

* * *

 _Footnote: Thus ends one of the stories that I struggled relatively little with. Sure inspiration was lacking with some of the chapters. This one included, but I still think that it was one of my more entertaining fics.  
_

 _I think that what it does best, is explain one little pet peeve of mine, regarding Tournament of Legends. How does Danzaburo know what Yang Chao looks like ? Well they damn well near killed each other ! That's how !_

 _Also it makes that scene in House of Tamod where Chaonao stops Badr from hurting Saras make some kind of sense. Just imagine if Chaonao never existed, and was just a creation of Danzaburo ? That would mean that the whole of the House of Tamod Danzaburo was watching over him. It's just a little headcannon of mine, but still an interesting idea, I'm sure you'll agree.  
_

 _As usual I'd like a rating out of ten, please :)_

 _My next story will be a fic called Back in the Day: The Tournament, and is a depiction of the original Five Tasks of the House of Tamod, it is also on one of my first of several prequels I have in the works. It revolves around Badr Tamod and *** **** ** *** *********.  
_

 ** _Editted Note: Ah, this delightful little... Dare I call it a collaboration? Story's more neutral. Honestly I'm surprised it aged as well as it did. I have this habit of living a story very much as I'm working on it, but give it a month after completion and... I'm stressing over everything! Why did I write that! Why! Why?!_**

 ** _It's gotten better, I think, and I'm proud to say I didn't change anything this time around (beyond a few typos I caught). Just a note because I tend to get over-excited in these authors notes and reading it made something unclear... Chaonao's isn't Danzaburo. Not here or in House of Tamod. Just had to straighten that up._**

 ** _There were things that miffed me a little (such as the ending of 'Sushi' and the ending of Danzaburo's and Saras' fight but I decided not to change it, since it all kind of... Fit in with the fic I guess.) One thing I regret is also not giving Yang Chao his signature ature accent. Mainly cos back when I wrote this accents were not easy for me to do._**

 ** _Danzaburo and Saras had some interesting chemistry I guess, but not as much as Danzaburo and Zorori._**

 ** _Alright now for Village Champion... Honestly not sure if I should go full remake on it or just edit... Perhaps a combination of both..._**


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